Dead In The French Quarter
by HouseNorthman
Summary: Takes place after DTTW..Eric regains his memories and wants to start a new chapter in life with Sookie. Follow them as they head to New Orleans to meet with a Queen, a witch, and some angry werewolves. Some lemons and some humor!
1. I Remember

"Goodnight Sam" I called through the restaurant.

"Night Sook! Drive careful." Sam yelled sounding as tired as I felt.

I was just wrapping up a long night at work and couldn't wait to get home. Bon Temps was experiencing warmer than usual weather for this time of year and the influx of customers tonight had made it very hard to keep my mental shields up. I stepped out of the restaurant and took a minute to breathe in the cool, clean air and look up at the stars. I didn't understand how people could stand living in big cities with so many brains buzzing around and not being able to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. This was the perfect kind of night to sit on the porch with the one you love wrapped up in a blanket. Like my mind often did now, I found myself thinking of Eric. He was the one I longed to be wrapped up in a blanket with. I knew he would appreciate the night and the stars just as I would. The thought left me with a small ache in my heart. Things hadn't been easy between us since Eric returned to Shreveport after regaining his memories from those crazy were witches. Our time together was short, but very intense during that week. When he had been cured of the curse and didn't remember our time to together, I have to admit it left a big hole in me. We had spoken periodically and he had come to visit me a few days after to thank me for sheltering him, but there was an uneasiness that wasn't there before. He couldn't remember our time together, which happened to be hotter than the six shades of hell, and it was bugging him. Surprisingly he didn't like feeling out of control for a week of his very long life. Part of me was tempted to tell him everything that happened, right down to the last steamy detail, but the other part of me, the part that was still untrusting of my fragile emotions just couldn't bring myself to do it. Not to mention there was the whole me killing a crazy were bitch in my house and Eric taking the bullet for me, that had also kept my lips sealed about that week. Eric and I were friends before all this, even teetering on more than friends, but I just didn't know what he would do if he had the knowledge that he saved my life and I killed someone in my kitchen. Well, I had thoroughly depressed myself now, so maybe I should start thinking of other items in my mental closet.

I pulled down my long driveway and parked the car. Just as I stepped up onto the porch I had another unpleasant problem to deal with.

"Hello Bill" my former lover was patiently waiting for me to get home. He seemed so calm and content sitting there on my porch swing, it almost made him seem human.

"Good evening Sookie, I hope you are well" Bill stood and greeted me with his thick southern gentleman accent. "I'm doing fine Bill, what brings you to this side of the cemetery this evening?" I tried to look pleasant, but all I could think of was my pajamas and my date with Ben & Jerry.

"I was wondering if you knew when you would be going to New Orleans to settle Hadley's estate?"

The good times were just rolling tonight I thought. Hadley was my cousin who had died and then met the true death a few weeks ago. It was hard for me to imagine her being dead, even after years of estrangement. Much harder even to know that she was made vampire by none other than the Queen of Louisiana and had "lived" the last two years of her life undead. Apparently Hadley had been the Queen's favorite for some time and was even more cherished after Sophie Ann became her maker. Sadly though, a jealous former favorite of the Queen named Waldo couldn't handle being set aside for her new love and had staked my cousin Hadley one night in a cemetery.

"I'm not sure yet Bill, I hadn't thought too much about it honestly." The fact is, I had so much going on in my life, most of it none too pleasant that I had been dragging my feet about going to settle her estate.

"Why were you wondering?" I asked him.

"I have some business to take care of in New Orleans and I was hoping to escort you there, if you don't mind?" He looked at me with that softness in his eyes and I didn't know what to say.

"I guess that would be fine. Will you be staying with the Queen?" I tried to make my question sound more like a statement so Bill would know there was a big difference in him catching a ride with me and him staying in Hadley's apartment with me.

"Yes, of course" I could hear the slight disappointment in his voice. "If you would just let me know when you are leaving, I will make my arrangements with her Majesty."

"Sure Bill, when I decide I'll give you a call. So, goodnight I guess" I started stepping towards the door, indicating that our conversation was over.

"Goodnight Sookie, sleep well." There was a longing in his eyes when he said it, but there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't feel the same for him anymore and I wasn't going to jeopardize what I might have beginning with Eric.

_Well, time to get over your pity party Sookie. _I knew that even though things might seem bleak right now, my life could definitely be worse. I slipped on my pretty PINK pajamas that were silky and beautiful and I already felt my mood perking up a bit. When Eric had paid me for my time caring for him, I promptly put it in my sad bank account. However, I had allowed myself a few purchases and these silky, hot pink PJ's were the first thing I had ever bought from Victoria's Secret. Grabbing my ice cream out of the freezer, I looked at the package calling my name "I've been waiting all night for you" I said at my ice cream.

"'I've been waiting all night for you too lover!" Eric said two inches from my back.

"Oh my god! Eric you scared the shit out of me!" I could hardly get the words out since I was having a coronary.

"What are you doing here? Ever heard of knocking?!" I practically killed him with my glare while trying to force my heart back into a regular pattern.

"I didn't mean to scare you Sookie. I guess in my excitement to see you I forgot to knock. Oops." Eric was half smiling with that sly grin of his.

"Yeah oops my tail end" I knew as soon as I said it, it was the wrong choice of words.

Eric ran his hand over said tail end and smiled "and what a lovely end it is, but I assure you that you have no tail."

"Oh Eric please, you know what I meant!" I mockingly punched him in the ribs, even though I didn't tell him to remove his hand.

"And these silky night clothes over your voluptuous body are quite striking" he was showing some fang now. Oh boy I was getting in deep already. Couldn't I just sit down and eat my ice cream in peace tonight? Instead it was turning out to be the Sookie's supernatural suitors night. Perfect.

As I slid out of his half embrace, I made my way over to the couch and flipped on the t.v. If Eric was here to hang out then he would have to come second to my first two men of the evening, Ben and Jerry.

"So what brings you to my little backwater tonight Eric?"

"Can't I just come see my favorite telepath?" he smirked

"Eric, I'm your only telepath. Now, what's the deal? Do you need me to read someone for you? Fangbangers eyeballing you weird? Bobby stealing your underwear again?" I almost laughed at the ridiculousness that was my life and my "gift".

"No, actually I have something to tell you. I remember." Before I could say a word he was pinning me down and kissing me for everything he was worth.

I let myself get lost in his kiss for a minute, basking in the heat being created between our lips. Finally my mind began to lift out of the passionate fog it was in and push at him to get off me.

"Whoa there big fella! What do you mean you remember?" I was simultaneously happy and scared to death at the same time.

"When I woke from my day rest this evening, I started getting little flashes of our time together. First it was just a quick image of lying in the bed with you holding your hand, then a flash of us sitting by the fire under a very ugly blanket. Another time I saw you tenderly washing my feet, and then I started getting images of the two of us intertwined, writhing with pleasure. I took your blood, you took mine, and we were one." He was definitely showing fang now and being in such close proximity I could feel his emotions because of our blood swapping and because it was pressing against my pelvis right now.

"Um..Eric listen, I um…" He cut me off by pressing his lips against mine again and instantly the lust and tension in the room were almost palpable. I didn't know whether I should stop this and try to explain or just turn my brain off and enjoy this beautiful Viking who was very eager to enjoy me. Unfortunately the little bit of rationality I still had, won out. Damn brain.

"Eric, we should talk about this." I said through heavy breaths.

"Lover let us not waste any more time talking, there are more pertinent matters to attend to" He was licking down my collarbone at this point and it was so delicious I almost couldn't bring myself to make him stop. Pushing myself off the couch, I hit the floor with a thud beside my now spilled ice cream.

"Sookie what is the matter with you? Don't you still want me as you wanted me when I was with you before?" Eric sounded almost hurt and slightly unsure of himself. This was new territory for the both of us I guess.

"Of course I do Eric, but we need to get some things clear first." Like what position to try first or who gets to be on top…snap out of it Sookie! I took a deep breath and tried to remember what I was saying.

"Do you remember everything about your time with me or just the good parts?" I was very nervous about this part of the conversation.

"It took a few hours, but I think I remember most of our time together. Especially the good parts." Eric was wagging his eyebrows at me. "I know that we had wild, primal sex all over your house, and that you took care of me in every sense of the word. I know that we had a mighty fun battle with those were witches, in which I was magnificent…obviously. Am I missing anything?" Leave it to Eric to remember the great sex and his uncanny ability to slaughter things with a big sword.

"Well that sounds like you did remember about everything. I'm glad your memories are back, and now we can get back to the good part" I jumped onto his lap and reignited our kiss before he could remember anything else. Specifically about me blasting a hole in Debbie Pelt's head.

With some effort he gently pushed me off his lips and stared right in my eyes for a minute without speaking. Was he trying to see into my head or what?

"Dear one, I'm afraid you have left out an important part of our last night together" Oh God here it comes I thought.

"What are you talking about Eric? Our shower together?" I said it seductively hoping that he was thinking that was the important part.

"No, but we will discuss that too. I was referring to you shooting the shifter in your kitchen" Eric said calmly.


	2. Are You Mine?

I felt the blood drain out of my face and I sat perfectly still and tried to collect myself. Before I realized it there was a few tears streaming out of my eyes and I thought I might hyperventilate.

"Lover what are you so upset about? I didn't mean to distress you." He took my face in his strong hands and kissed where my tears had run.

"Oh Eric, I didn't want to do it but she was sitting here waiting for us when we came home and she fired her gun, but you stepped in front of me and took the bullet and then I grabbed my gun while she was shocked at the sight of you and I…I pulled the trigger." It all came out in a jumble of words and I didn't know if I was even making sense. "I was so scared, I didn't know what kind of bullets she had and I thought you might be dead, well really dead.." before I could continue my spill of the horrible story Eric put his hand to my mouth and whispered "sshhh."

"Sookie you have nothing to feel sorry about. That treacherous bitch tried to kill you more than once and if I wouldn't have been with you she would have succeeded. She wouldn't have thought twice about killing you and she wouldn't have shed a tear for doing so. You were spared the bullet by me and then you fired back and defended the both of us effectively. You are brave and I am proud you are mine." I knew he was telling the truth because his blood was telling me so.

"Well thank you for saying that Eric, but I don't feel very brave. I feel like I did something wrong, but then again I didn't want to stand there and get slaughtered either. When the bullet hit you and I thought for a split second she might have taken you away from me, it was too much…I wanted her dead.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Of course you shouldn't have let yourself get murdered because she was jealous of your friendship with that wolf. Not only did you protect yourself like you should have, you protected me as well. She could have staked me while I was healing, but your quick actions saved us both. As to you not being a good person, I think you are a wonderful person. I don't think your God would want you to sit back and let yourself be murdered." Eric was still calm and feeling a wash of pride.

I relaxed into his arms and let his words sink in. Maybe he was right; maybe it didn't make me a bad person because I fought back. Of course I wouldn't go out and try to murder someone, but she had broken into my house to do just that to me. I was no theologian but I didn't think God would want me to sit there and take it either. In fact if I was being truly honest with myself, I wasn't really torn up about killing her, just worried that maybe my life of trying to be a fairly good Christian was ruined. The more I thought about it though, I realized that defending myself and the man I love did not erase all the good things I had done in my life.

"Thank you Eric" I nuzzled my face into his neck and felt nothing but happiness and acceptance.

"Thank you for what lover?"

"For accepting me and telling me that I am a good person, for helping me not doubt myself all the time, for showing me hours of pleasure and joy." I practically purred the last part of my statement.

"You never have to thank me for those things Sookie. You are all of those things and more. I should be thanking you for showing me that I can feel things again and for bringing joy and pleasure back into my life. When you are as old as me sometimes you forget to live and simply exist. You have made me feel alive again. I would be proud to call you mine, if you will have me." He was being so sincere I could hardly contain my tears or my happiness.

"Of course I will be yours Eric, there's nothing I want more." I wrapped my arms around his broad back and pulled him as close to me as possible. I took a few seconds to savor the feel of him against me again and then pulled him in for a long kiss. "I've missed you" I breathed in between kisses.

Eric lifted off the couch with me still wrapped around his waist, our lips never separating. He laid us down gently beside the fireplace as he threw a large chenille blanket underneath us. Slowly he started to unbutton my top and took in the sight of my body. He looked at me as though he was trying to remember if his memories matched the reality. I felt lust and adoration flowing through our bond and he quickly undressed himself. He kissed my neck, shoulders, collarbones, and breasts as he untied the strings on my pants. He slid them off and ran his hands all the way down my legs, around my feet and back up the inside of my legs. My thighs were shaking at his touch and I was painfully aware of how much I had missed him. He kissed up my thighs until he reached the center of me. He gently inserted two fingers and started moving with a beautiful rhythm.

"Oh Eric" I moaned and threw my head back. I felt another sensation as he began using his tongue in perfect rhythm with his hand. I gripped his hair with both my hands and gently pulled. He picked up his pace until I was just on the edge of losing my senses. "Please don't stop" I moaned though I could barely breathe. Right before I could fall over the edge, he turned his head and bit into my thigh. I saw stars. It was the most heart pounding, explosive orgasm I ever felt. My back was arched and I had to catch my breath when it was over.

Before I had time to even think of anything else, Eric was back at my face kissing me furiously and rubbing every inch of my body. I wanted him so bad I thought I might spontaneously combust if he didn't enter me.

"Eric please, I need it now" Before I got the last word out he entered me so deeply and completely that I thought I could feel it in my stomach. I yelled out in pleasure and it drove his lust even higher. We were giving it everything we had and I could feel him getting closer to his own pleasure.

"Jag har väntat i tusen år för dig min kärlek" he was crying out in his native language when he exploded in me. I was so turned on by him and speaking to me in his ancient beautiful tongue, I had another release of my own. We both collapsed and intertwined our bodies. I was so content and happy I could have stayed wrapped up in him forever.

"What did you say to me earlier, right before you came?" I looked up knowing my dirty talk would pull him out of the post coital coziness. I really did want to know what he said though.

"I said I have waited a thousand years for you my love" He lightly kissed my face. I couldn't remember a time in the past few weeks since he had been gone that I felt this happy. It was perfect.


	3. Vikings and Ugg boots

It had been two weeks since Eric had showed up at my house and declared that he was no longer brain damaged. He had remembered the time we spent together during the witch curse and we had finally come together as a couple. Things had really been looking up and I noticed that I had an ease now that I hadn't felt for a very long time, even when I was with Bill. Don't get me wrong, I did have feelings for Bill when I dated him, but it wasn't the same as what I had with Eric. We had something that felt surreal, blissful, exciting, and most importantly it felt right. Eric and I had exchanged blood several times and now our bond was stronger than ever. I could feel his emotions as he could mine. When he rose in the evenings I felt like a jigsaw puzzle that you just put the last piece in place. I certainly don't feel depressed or broken when he isn't awake, but there's something so comforting and intimate about feeling him engrained in my soul.

Tonight I was off work and heading to Fangtasia to see Eric. I took my time that evening shaving until I was baby smooth, curling my hair in big, soft waves, and making sure my makeup was just right. I decided to have a little fun and went with a very smoky, sexy eye shadow and liner and very glossy lips. My skirt was short denim, a gray graphic fitted tank top, and a black leather jacket. I finished off the look with my new Ugg boots that Pam sent me last week. I had to admit even though it wasn't my typical look; I thought I looked pretty hot. As I was finishing up getting ready, I felt warmth in my cheeks and a waft of love hit me and I knew Eric had just woken up. Now more excited than ever, I ran out to my car and headed to the club.

"The first breather who can sing the alphabet backwards gets to come to the front of the line!" Pam was checking ID's and having a little fun with, or at, the crowd.

"zyxwvu.." a nerdy looking young boy with too much eyeliner was attempting to please Pam.

"Stupid human it was just a joke! Move to the back of the line!" Yea Pam was really enjoying herself tonight.

"Hi Pam" I said and tried not to look too eager.

"Sookie, so good to see you my telepathic friend, and boy do you look scrumptious tonight!" Pam was flashing me a fangy smile, which was funny but also kind of scared me a little.

"Thanks Pam, it's always good to see you!" I stepped forward and gave her a little kiss on the cheek.

"Go on in, Master will be very pleased you are here. Oh and Sookie, I love the boots" Pam never missed good shoes, especially when she bought them.

When I stepped into the club, I saw the usual assortment of goths, fangbangers, nerds, and naughty housewives whose husbands thought they were at book club meetings. I felt my pulse quicken and my smile spread wider as I neared Eric's office. Just as I reached my hand out to knock on the door, it flung open and I was snatched in vamp speed by my Viking. I was already in his arms and being passionately kissed by the time my brain registered what happened. After a long minute, he pulled back and looked me up and down.

"Lover, you look especially edible tonight" Eric gave me a look that almost made my barely there panties fall right off.

"You like?" I did a little spin so he could take in the whole look. "I like very much" His fangs clicked down and my cheeks flushed.

"Takk ser deilig også" I purred the words at him praying I had them right. From the look on his face and the pure lust that shot through the bond, I think I did pretty well. Eric's lips were back on mine but in a frenzy this time. "So I guess I'm not the only one who gets turned on by the language of my love" I smiled at him.

"You always seem to amaze me lover, I don't know how I got so lucky" Eric was speaking from his heart. This was a rare treat that only I got to enjoy. I love my big bad Viking vampire sheriff and all that comes along with it, mostly, but I really did enjoy the special side of him that he saved only for me. A caring, tender side beneath all that alpha male, hardened vampire exterior. I faintly heard Pam step in the room behind me.

"If you two could stop eye fucking each other for a moment; I have a letter for you Eric" Pam snickered and handed Eric a black envelope with red writing. The stationary was a big tip off that it was from a vampire. Sometimes they are very theatrical with their vampy ways.

Eric was scanning the letter and had a look on his face I couldn't quite discern. "Who is it from Eric?" I asked not knowing if he would answer me.

"It is from my Queen. She would like to see me at my earliest convenience to discuss business." Eric tossed the letter down and put his arms back around me. "Now where were we? I believe you were saying something about me being the best you've ever had?" Always the joker, he was. I couldn't help but let out a giggle like a little schoolgirl.

"Ugh. You two are sickening. I'll be out front" Pam sauntered back out the door into the bar.

"You know Eric, I need to make a trip to New Orleans to clean out Hadley's place and speak to the Queen also. Maybe we could go together?" I asked him timidly thinking he might say no. I know Eric loves me, but vamps are real uptight when it comes to their political drama, so you never really know what to expect.

"That sounds like a great idea lover" He smiled at my suggestion. "I'll need to leave tomorrow night if possible though; it's not good to keep the Queen waiting. Will you be able to go on such short notice?"

"Well I need to talk to Sam but I don't think it will be a problem." My boss Sam Merlotte was a good friend to me and luckily he was pretty lenient about letting me have a few days off when I was dealing with vamp business. A big smile was on my face thinking about mine and Eric's first little out of town excursion as a couple. Maybe we could even take in the sights and go to a jazz club after he was done with his business.

"Sookie you are happy, I can feel it. Are you that excited about going on such a menial task?" Eric was confused as to what would have me excited about a vampire business trip and me cleaning out my poor dead cousin's apartment.

"It's our first trip together" The schoolgirl grin was back.

"Sookie we have been other places together, Dallas, Mississippi.."

"No" I interrupted him. "It's our first trip together as a couple" I pushed my love and affection through the bond and he caught on to why it was special to me. He leaned over and kissed my forehead and tilted my chin up towards him.

"You're right. This is one of the reasons I love you darling, you still have a zest for life and small things make you happy." He was smiling now too and looking at me with appreciation in his eyes.

We went out in the main bar and sat at his usual table for a little while talking about our day and making plans for New Orleans. Suddenly a little bit of my excitement faded about our trip when I realized I had told Bill he could come with me.

"Um Eric I just remembered one little thing that you may not like" giving him a sheepish grin, I kept going. "I kind of told Bill that he could go with me to New Orleans." Uh oh, Eric's smile had completely faded.

"Lover why would you do such a thing?" He wasn't mad, just a little disgusted if I was reading his feelings correctly.

"Well this was before you and I figured out that we were an us" I smiled at my little phrase. "Also I made sure he understood it was strictly for sharing a ride and that he would be staying at the Queen's compound once we arrived, not with me."

"Well you know how I feel about Bill-bore me to my final death- Compton, but as long as he is clear on the arrangements, I guess it won't be too awful." Eric was attempting to not have a vamp sized tantrum and I knew he wanted to. I reached over and gave him a little kiss and whispered in his ear, "Don't worry min Viking I only have eyes for you" The look he gave me was unmistakable and within a minute we were out the door and in the 'Vette heading towards Eric's house.


	4. Airplane Bottles

I woke the next morning with my honey draped across me and essentially dead for the day. I turned my alarm off and gave him a soft kiss before rolling out of bed and heading to the bathroom. When I stepped into the shower, I let the hot water encase me and I started having flashbacks to the shower I had last night. A little shiver went from my head to my toes recalling what had been done in this shower the night before_. If walls could talk_, I thought. Turns out Eric wanted to see if we could spark more memories of our previous sexy bath time. Shaking my head, I thought I better put away thoughts like that until after work.

I had to work the lunch shift today at Merlotte's and while I was there I planned on telling Sam I would need a few days off for my trip to New Orleans. Before walking out the door I wrote Eric a little note and left it on the bed beside him.

_Eric,_

_I thoroughly enjoyed you giving me a good scrub last night in the shower. I went ahead and packed some of your clothes and reminded Bobby to pick up your Armani suit from the cleaners and have it waiting for us to leave tonight. Can't wait to see you and take our first trip. I love you_

_Sookie_

When I got to work there was already a steady lunch crowd and it just got busier as the next hour passed. Finally about two in the afternoon I had served my last chicken finger basket and bud light, so I pulled Sam back to his office.

"What's up Sook?" Sam was glad to have a minute to sit down.

"I know it's last minute Sam, but I need to go to New Orleans and take care of Hadley's things"

"Not that I mind, but what's the rush now when you've been putting it off for weeks?"

Looking a little sheepish, I didn't look him right in the eyes "Well it turns out that Eric needs to go also to meet with the Queen so he's going with me. I figured it would be nice to have company and not have to meet with the Queen alone."

"I thought Bill was going with you?" Sam asked

"He is, but you know it's nice having Eric be able to come too" I must have flushed a little while telling him because he looked me in the eyes and said "Sookie you know that I may not like you getting involved with vampires because of their inherent nature to be violent and you know, drain people, but I know how much Eric cares about you and if you're happy, then I'm happy for you"

"Thank you for saying that Sam. I am happy, really happy actually. Anyways, Arlene said she would cover my shift Wednesday and Holly will take Thursday. Three days is probably plenty of time for me to get done with what I need to do. "

"That sounds fine to me, and thanks for already finding replacements. Just be careful and come back to us in one piece ok cher?" Sam tried to sound like he was joking but I knew he was very serious.

"Don't worry about me Sam, I'll be fine and I'll have Eric with me" I smiled knowing that as long as Eric was around, I had much better chances of coming home uninjured and with all my blood still in my body.

It was just before sunset and I was zipping my suitcase closed when I heard a car come down my driveway. I looked out front to see a black limo come to a stop. My favorite demon lawyer stepped out looking nice in his gray suit.

"Hello Mr. Cataliades, it's nice to see you" I called cheerfully as he walked up the porch.

"Nice to see you too my dear, are you all packed?"

"Well yes, I'm going to New Orleans though, am I forgetting something?" I asked puzzled

"When your vampire sent word back to the Queen that the two of you would be coming to town, she sent me to retrieve you. Her Majesty doesn't want her guests to be inconvenienced by fighting traffic. "

Apparently we would be arriving to New Orleans in style I thought. "That's very nice of you, but you didn't need to trouble yourself" I said.

"It's never trouble to see you my dear, and it's nice for me to get out of her Majesty's compound sometimes." He looked as though he had seen enough vamps for a while and was truly glad to be out on the open road.

"Ok well thank you; I just have the two bags here on the porch." The demon grabbed my bags and went to put them in the trunk. "I just need to call Bill and let him know what's going on" I called out to him.

"That won't be necessary Sookie." Bill had glided up behind me

"Good grief can't you guys make a little more noise when you sneak up on someone?!" I had jumped a foot off the ground when he startled me.

"That would defeat the fun of being vampire Sookie. It would also make it harder to sneak up on our prey" Bill said looking a little fangy at the jolt of shock he had just given me.

"Ok Bill you totally sound like a creeper right now, so let's keep the predator instinct in check ok?" I smiled as though it was funny but I know he caught my underlying tone. Bill put his bag in the trunk and opened the door for me to get in. "Just a minute Bill. Mr. Cataliades, do I need to call Eric?"

"No my dear, Mr. Northman is aware of the traveling arrangements and we will be picking him up shortly."

"What does Eric have to do with the traveling arrangements?" Bill asked tensely.

"Eric is going with us to New Orleans, of course" I was positively glowing at this bit of information I was giving.

"I was not aware that the Sheriff would be going as well Sookie. Is it really necessary?" Bill had his usual icy tone.

"Of course it is Bill. The Queen asked Eric to come to her on business and it just made sense for him to go with us." Even if Bill was icy cold, I was as chipper as ever! It was a beautiful night, my Viking would be with me soon and we were on our way to our first mini vacation. Not even Bill was going to dampen my mood tonight. Bill obviously didn't see what a delightful night this was and just turned and got in the limo.

"Are you ready Ms. Stackhouse?" Mr. Cataliades was grinning, obviously enjoying Bill's tantrum.

"Yep, let's go get Eric!" I got in the car and off we went to Fangtasia to retrieve my honey.

An hour later I was sitting in the limo enjoying a cozy ride with my Viking vampire boyfriend and my ex-boyfriend Bill. Yeah I know, sometimes my life seems ridiculous. Eric and Bill were being cordial; well as cordial as two vampires that don't like each other can be and I was sitting back enjoying the ride and the mini bar. Turns out there are all kinds of bottles of liquor that they stick in tiny bottles! They're like real liquor but miniature! I figured since this was a new concept for me I should sample one…or seven.

"Lover I have a little gift for you" Eric said handing me a black velvet box.

I threw my miniature Absolut bottle down and opened the box. "Oh Eric it's so beautiful!" I pulled out a beautiful diamond and sapphire necklace. It looked like something that should be in a museum, not on a barmaid. "I can't accept this Eric it's too much!"

"Don't be silly dear, this is but a small token of my affection for you" Eric said with a cheeky grin.

"Did you buy this at like a museum or something? Oh no, you didn't glamour some security guard into giving you some precious jewels did you?" I barely got the sentence out before I started hiccupping.

"Of course not Sookie! You might want to slow down on those little bottles lover" Eric was pointing to a small pile of empty bottles.

"Oh it's ok baby they're small! You can't get drunk off something so little" (hiccup)

"He's right Sookie; perhaps you should have some water" Oh great now I had another protective vampire on my case. Bill was looking at me with a constipated look. Ha ha that's funny because vampires can't get constipated! I started giggling at the idea and both of them looked at me like I was crazy.

"I think I can handle my lover Bill" Uh oh now Eric was getting all icy like popsicle Bill. Bill would be so funny as a popsicle, I started snickering again. I bet he would be vanilla flavored. BORING! Eric would be like a mint chocolate chip mixed with cherry and rocky road goodness. Yum. The thought of what flavors of ice cream my only two lovers would be was starting to crack me up and the laughter was picking up. Only from me though, damn vamps aren't very good with humor.

"Sookie, are you alright?" Eric was looking at me all concerned.

"I'm fine you big Viking chocolate chip!" I was giving him a seductive look.

"Dear are you in pain? Having female troubles? You have an odd, pained look on your face" Eric was rubbing my cheek now.

"No, of course not. I would never let Aunt Flow get in the way of what I'm going to do to you over the next few days!" I wiggled my eyebrows at him to make sure he understood that I meant I was going to get nasty with him, but good nasty not nasty nasty. At that thought I started rubbing my hand up his thigh.

"I'm glad to hear that lover but I believe you've had a few too many of those little bottles" Eric said

"No way! I was just thinking about you and how I want to lick your…" Eric cut me off by pressing a bottle of water to my mouth.

"Sookie please drink this. We will have plenty of time for that later but I don't think Bill wants to hear about it. Or perhaps you do Compton?" Eric was giving Bill a slightly fangy grin.

"Don't flatter yourself Sheriff, she is just drunk" Bill shot back

"Oh I don't think so, she is quite a feisty little thing in the bedroom" oh boy now I was getting all kinds of fangy grinning. Ha ha this was a fun car trip, maybe we could do charades.

"Yes I know that Eric, as you may recall Sookie and I spent many evenings never leaving the bedroom"

Oh wow this probably wasn't going to end well, but it sure was fun! "Ok ok before you two whip out your junk and have a pissing contest, why don't we talk about something else? Sheesh you bloodsuckers are so much trouble!"

"Sookie vampires don't piss." That was Bill, always logical.

I shot him the evil eye and pulled out another tiny bottle. "We should play a car trip game! We could play like the alphabet one, or the song game, or…"

"Actually lover how about you open the second part of your gift" Eric was smiling at me and reached past me to grab the garment bag beside me.

"What do you mean the second part? Oh Eric you are so bad!" I giggled at him and unzipped the bag

"Oh my God it's fabulous!" I was holding a gorgeous sapphire blue, strapless, silk dress that looked like it would take six months of slinging chicken finger baskets to pay for. Maybe it was the dress or the fact that I had polished off that last little bottle of vodka, but I threw myself onto my Viking and attempted to molest him with my mouth. When I finally came back up for air, Mr. Cataliades was standing with my door open and Bill was gone. Eric was just smiling and attempting to rearrange his big sword before we stepped out.


	5. Queens, Vikings and Witches OH MY!

_****Beware there are explicit scenes and language in this chapter! If that isn't your cup of tea then you may want to skip to the next chapter****_

_Hope you guys are enjoying the book so far! It's been fun to write and I'm planning on some new storylines mixed in with characters and/or plots from others books. Sookie will stay human/fae in my books, but she is not going to be the whiny, scared Sookie from the SVM. My Sookie dresses and acts her age and she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. So please feel free to leave comments, constructive criticism, whatever. _

"Your Majesty, you are quite a vision, it's been too long." Eric was kneeling before Queen Sophie Ann.

Oh shit I wasn't expecting her royal fangness so soon. "Your Majesty" I dipped trying to look as regal as what Eric had done but my stumbling ruined the effect.

"Sheriff and Ms. Stackhouse, it's nice to see you both. I hate that it is on such a sad occasion though." I had never seen the Queen look so pained, so human.

The occasion she was referring to was me being in New Orleans to settle my cousin Hadley's estate after her final and permanent death. I hadn't really noticed it the night I first met Sophie Ann at my house, probably because her anger was distracting from her grief, but I could see it in her eyes now that she was truly grieved at Hadley's death. I felt tears well up in my eyes thinking of the hard life Hadley lead and knowing that she had finally found love and it had all been taken from her.

"Thank you for your condolences your Highness and also for arranging our transportation from Bon Temps" This time I only gave her a small bow of my head. It was much easier to do than the dipping thing with a stomach full of alcohol.

"I won't keep you long tonight, I'm sure you would like to relax after the long car ride. I just wanted to give you the keys to Hadley's condo and introduce you to Ms. Broadway. She owns this building and sold Hadley her condo. She also happens to be a very delightful witch who has been keeping the condo safe and free from anyone who would disturb it. Her spells have proven quite effective as well." The Queen had a slight smirk on her face and I didn't know whether to be glad that Hadley's place had a supernatural ADT system or whether to be scared that the Queen felt she needed it. I could feel Eric's apprehension as well at this revelation.

"Thank you my Queen. Sookie and I will come to your compound tomorrow around midnight if that pleases you?" Eric was nothing if not calm and collected, even when he felt trouble brewing.

"That will be fine Mr. Northman. I have also taken the liberty to arrange dinner reservations for the two of you at The Crimson Quarter. It's New Orleans premiere human/vampire restaurant. I've been once myself, it is quite remarkable." Now the Queen was showing some fang. I gulped. "That is very kind of you, thank you your Majesty." One last head bob from me and Eric and the Queen was on her way.

"Well now that she has almost killed my buzz, I guess we should go on up" I said and started walking up the brick staircase. When I reached the top of the step I felt like I was walking through a haze. I couldn't see it but I could feel it. I recognized it from my fateful trip to Club Dead, it was magic. After a few tense seconds, it subsided and I unlocked the door. I stepped in and looked around to see where Hadley had spent her undead life for the last year. The condo was quite large and had vaulted ceilings which made it seem even bigger. The walls were professionally painted a beautiful burnt orange and the brown leather furniture looked great in contrast. I walked through the living room and off to the right was a small, but expensive looking kitchen. A stainless steel refrigerator and matching microwave were the two most obvious focal points. There were a few mahogany cabinets that were most likely empty, well empty of anything that would be of use to a human like me. I wandered out of the kitchen, noticing that Eric was sitting quietly on one of the leather sofas and talking to Pam on his cell phone. I sent a little happy thought through the bond and feeling it, he looked over and smiled at me. I continued through the condo checking out the other rooms and trying to imagine the girl I had known many years ago living here. It didn't seem like Hadley, at least not the last time I had seen her. I felt a twinge of pain and regret knowing that I didn't see her for a few years before she was permanently gone from this world.

Having thought enough about death and sadness, I grabbed my smaller bag which held all my cosmetics and beauty products from the hallway and went into the bathroom. There were still fluffy red towels lined up on shelves as if she would come home any minute and jump into the shower. I washed my face, brushed my teeth and decided to walk back down the hallway to get my bag containing my pajamas. Did I mention I walked back out naked? I knew instantly when my Viking caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye because I felt a warmth and wetness in between my legs because he was projecting so strongly through the blood. I pretended to not notice him and stalk back towards the master bedroom, I made it about three steps before I was scooped up and shoved against the wall. His mouth was on me instantly. Kissing me, licking my neck and kneading my hips with his big hands. I had wrapped my legs around his waist and was being pressed into the wall.

"Min sexiga minx trodde du att jag skulle glömma vad du sa i bilen?" (_My sexy minx did you think I would forget what you said in the car?) _His voice was hot and thick with lust.

I was so turned on I could feel my liquid arousal almost dripping. Somehow I pulled my brain back into functioning mode so I could have a little fun with him. I slapped him across the face and said "Mr. Northman how dare you get me drunk so you could take advantage of me!" He looked stunned for a few seconds and gently put me back down on the ground. "I am not that kind of girl and you should be ashamed of yourself you dirty boy!" Another fake indignant face from me and I knew Eric had caught onto my game. "Someone should punish you for your actions you dirty Viking" I was right in his face egging him on.

Eric was so hard I could feel it against my stomach and I almost gave into the overwhelming desire to just sit on his face, but role play with him was just so much fucking fun.

"You're right my lady I am ashamed and I will take whatever punishment you see fit." He leaned his head down submissively. My God I was so hot it almost hurt.

"Stå och ta bort dina kläder Viking" (_Stand and remove your clothes Viking)_ I bellowed at him. He instantly stood and started slowly unbuttoning his shirt and threw it down. He was staring me straight in the eyes and started undoing his belt and laid it at his feet, then removed his pants. I was drooling over him standing there in nothing but his black boxer briefs and the huge bulge they contained. He stood stock still waiting for his next command looking like a true Adonis right in front of me.

"Allt!" (_Everything!) _He ripped his briefs away from his body and was magnificently naked and throbbing with desire.

"Since you like to be a dirty boy, you will pleasure yourself while I watch" I leered at him with a hunger I had never known before. I began to wonder if the more of his blood I had recently been drinking was causing the surge in confidence and sexuality in me.

Eric started stroking his shaft while never losing my gaze. The look of pleasure on his face watching him stroke his hard cock was almost more than I could take. I felt something wild and primal in me that I had never felt.

"Sluta!" (_Stop!) _I didn't even sound like myself anymore. "On your knees Viking!" I commanded and he obeyed. "Now lick me, tease me, and devour me until you have had every last drop" Eric spread my legs and I wrapped them around his neck while he pushed me back up against the wall. He was licking my clit fast and then slow, making circles, and gently sucking on it. It was so intense I had to contain my screams that were forcing up my throat. I grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked it back to look him in his eyes for a minute. His fangs were all the way down and the look in his eyes scared me in a most erotic way.

"Once you make me come harder than you ever thought possible, you will be rewarded for accepting your punishment. After you have devoured all my juices you may devour my blood." I hardly had the words out before Eric was back between my legs and working at a pace so frenzied I started to lose control and felt mad with desire. I screamed out as I had the most amazing and pulsing orgasm I've ever felt. Eric turned his head slightly and sank his fangs into my thigh. The sensation sent another mind blowing orgasm and I lost my senses. I jerked my legs down to his sides and bit his neck savagely and drank as much of his blood as I could possibly suck down. Sometime during our escapade he had begun stroking himself again and as I sucked the wound on his neck he had his own orgasm and cried out with pleasure.

I lifted my mouth off his neck and kissed him with his blood all over my lips. The sex, the orgasms, the smell of my arousal still on his mouth, and the blood was too much to handle. I thought I would explode from the sheer pleasure of it all. Eric threw me into the living room and bent me over the couch at vamp speed. Right before he could pound into me, the door to the condo swung open and a beautiful girl who looked to be around my age came running through it. She had dark brown hair that was effortlessly sexy the way it was tousled. She had tan skin like me and was wearing a thin cotton sleep tank and short set and her face was something between stunned, angry, and very curious. Before I even had time to think I heard myself telling Eric to glamour her. He blurred past her and shut the door, as soon as she turned around he was already looking in her eyes and I knew he had her in his whammy.

"What would you have me tell her lover? Who is she?" Eric asked still ragged with bloodlust and Sookielust.

I sauntered over to them stark naked and feeling incredibly sexy, which was highly unusual behavior for me. Oh well I would have time later to contemplate where this vixen had come from and how she invaded me. I walked up to them and rubbed my hand across the girl's face. She was just looking at me with a glazed over but happy look on her face. I decided to try something I had done once before in Dallas and try to impose my own glamour on her. I had finely tuned my mental and telepathic abilities to the point I hadn't previously known possible before meeting vampires. Now since I had so much of Eric's blood pumping through me, I felt confident that I had more power than I previously let myself explore. I felt Eric through the bond pushing me to use my skills.

"What is your name?" I said softly a few inches from the girl.

"Amelia Broadway, what's your name? You're very pretty" The girl smiled sweetly.

As I had guessed, this was the witch who had looked out for Hadley. I reached out and stroked her cheek and she blushed. I was feeling a wave of lust and satisfaction rolling through our blood and I leaned in and spoke to her again. "Amelia dear, why did you just burst into my condo?

"I had just sat down to watch a movie and I heard screams and beating on the wall. It scared me and I came to find out who was in Hadley's house. The Queen will kill me if I let anything happen to this place." She stated calmly in her glamoured state.

"Well Amelia, Eric and I have come to town to claim Hadley's possessions, I'm her cousin and executor of her will. We met you earlier and we've been having a great time talking and playing card games. Silly us though, you and I started drinking and found that we would really like to have hot sex with each other and my boyfriend." Eric was incredibly hard and was projecting so much passion I felt myself become wet again. He was definitely glad I let this Sookie out to play tonight. Hell, before tonight I didn't even know this Sookie existed.

"That sounds really hot! I'm glad you guys are into that, because I totally am and it's hard to find many willing participants as feisty as me" She still had that dreamy look on her face but I was glad to know she was into this even if she was under my spell. I grabbed her and kissed her longingly and felt her body respond as she put her hands on my breasts and began to rub my nipples. I pulled away for a moment and Amelia kept right on going. She was kissing my shoulders and working her way over my breasts, it was amazing, I never knew I could enjoy a woman this way. I looked over her shoulder at Eric who was so hot he was practically letting off steam.

"Jag vill her.I vill smaka henne och njuta av hennes kropp. Följ med mig älskare och njuta av hennes kropp också." _(I want her. I want to taste her and enjoy her body. Come with me lover and enjoy her body too_.) I purred at him relishing the look on his face.

"Du förvånar mig älskare. Jag kommer verkligen njuta både av dig om det är din önskan" (_You surprise me lover. I will very much enjoy the both of you if that is your wish) _His face was a mix between aching and uncertainty. I knew he was wondering if I really wanted to do this and even though I don't know where it came from, I wanted this very badly. To answer his question, I just took Amelia's finger and stuck it in my mouth. I seductively licked her finger and then glided her finger inside me. She was just as hot as I was when Eric scooped up the both of us and took us to the bedroom.

I undressed her slowly while kissing her with an urgent need. Eric was behind me kissing my neck and rubbing his throbbing cock against my bottom.

Amelia had a beautiful body and I wanted to lick every inch of her. This feeling was new and exciting. I felt like a kid who had been denied candy their whole childhood so they overindulge when they grow up. I was well on my way to accomplishing my goal when she pulled me out of Eric's grip and pushed me down on the bed. She began kissing down my stomach while rubbing her hands up my thighs, it was electrifying. I noticed Eric was licking her shoulder and grazing her neck with his fangs but not biting her. He reached around her and started rubbing her clit while she started licking my wetness and rubbing her fingers over me in a beautiful rhythm. I was so on fire I knew my release would come soon. I could feel it building in me, my nerves on fire and the immense pleasure of having this gorgeous creature pleasuring me while my sexy vampire touched her was driving me insane. I arched violently as I came all over her tongue and Eric orgasmed with me.

"Bita hennes älskare! Drick ur henne och njuta hennes smak som hon savors min!"(_Bite her lover! Drink from her and savor her flavor as she savors mine!) _ I yelled in our language.

Eric growled and bit into her neck. The blood flowed into his mouth and Amelia arched back towards him moaning with her own pleasure. I sat up and began running my fingers over her arousal and even penetrated her with two of my fingers. She was so hot and deliciously wet. Within just a minute she was flooding my fingers with her own blinding pleasure. I ached for Eric to be inside me and I couldn't hold out any longer. I pushed Eric onto his back and lowered myself onto him. I was quickly in rhythm with his body like we were fine tuned for each other. I pulled Amelia to me, pulling her body right over Eric's face. As she kissed me and played with my breasts, Eric was holding her hips and moving her in the same rhythm as me with his tongue buried inside her. She and I moaned in ecstasy and watching Eric be so filthy with her while he was inside of me sent me flying with a burst of multiple orgasms. When I cried out from the pleasure, Amelia and Eric also jerked and had their own ecstasy. For a few seconds it felt like I had completely left my body. I was floating above us watching from somewhere else. My brain started to come back to reality and I felt like I was back inside my body. I took Amelia by the hand and led her to the shower. We stepped in together and stood inhaling the steam from the hot water and trying to slow down our racing hearts. After we were soaked, I took a sponge and my shower gel and sensually soaped her up. She took the sponge from me and returned the favor. After we had thoroughly cleaned (and dirtied) each other, we stepped out and Eric handed us both a towel.

"Well, that was refreshing" Eric said fangs fully down. "Shall I replace her memories lover?"

"No, let me handle her please" I said coyly knowing I had already handled her every which way from Sunday.

"Amelia, did you have fun tonight?" I purred at her.

"So much! Can we do this again sometime?" I couldn't believe how turned on I still was knowing that I was able to glamour her.

"I think that's a great idea and I'm sure Mr. Northman here would like that too" He was grinning like the Cheshire cat at seeing a side of me he never expected. Frankly, neither did I.

"Eric will walk you back to your house now Amelia and you need to eat something and drink some orange juice ok? I'll see you tomorrow or the next day while we are in town. "

"Ok that sounds great. Bye Sookie." She leaned in and gave me a soft kiss as Eric threw on some shorts and walked her back downstairs.

_As you can see, Sookie is becoming more confident, sexy, and even brave! She isn't some country bumpkin that has to fit into anyone's idea of who she should be. I think her Viking loves it too! Maybe she's beginning to realize that the line between a "good" person and a "bad" person are not what she was taught growing up...maybe she can walk a fine line between her true self and the person she was raised to believe she had to be..._


	6. Aspirin Anyone?

_So it seems as though some people simply read the sex scene and didn't pay attention to things that Sookie was feeling and thinking. Whoever wants to quit reading because they didn't understand that chapter, well I can't do anything about that. If you read the chapter again and pay attention to Sookie, not just what's happening then you may have a different take on it. I don't write smutty scenes out of the blue for no literary purpose….For those of you who are still reading and picking up on the other parts of the story God bless you for helping this amateur writer keep going!_

I woke up the next day in total darkness and with a pounding headache. Eric was dead beside me and the neon green letters of the alarm clock were telling me it was almost one in the afternoon. I stretched out and tried to orient myself in this unfamiliar room. As I tried to make my way off the bed, I realized I was behind some kind of heavy black curtain. Even though the windows were light proof, I guess this was just an extra vamp security measure. This must be the canopy that was rolled up to the top of the bed banisters last night. Last night. Oh my goodness I was getting little flashes of memory from last night and they more than made me blush. Ok, I'll have to think through what happened last night in a few minutes, right now I need to get out of this damn dark vampire room and get to the bathroom. After some more fumbling and kicking a dresser in the dark causing a string of profanities, I finally made my way out of the bedroom but making sure Eric would be safe from the light before I opened the door.

After I took care of my bathroom needs, I started rummaging through Hadley's medicine cabinet looking for aspirin. This was a futile attempt of course since my cousin was a vampire and had no need for aspirin. Sulking to the couch, I flopped down and was hit with more flashes from last night. I must have been ten shades of red at that moment! Had I really bed a stranger last night? With Eric participating?! And a woman at that! My head was spinning and I didn't know if it was the alcohol or the realization of the things I had done and had done to me the night before.

"Ok think Sookie. Were you just drunk enough that you were completely uninhibited?" I was talking to myself out loud like a crazy person.

"No, I don't think that's it." Surely I would have realized if I had been that wasted! It would have taken more alcohol than what that mini fridge could hold to make me do some of the things that I was realizing I did. Oh geez I was feeling flush.

"What the hell were you thinking Stackhouse?!" Alright time to reign it in, I was having a one sided lecture with myself at this point.

Trying to recall the events of the previous evening in order went something like this. First, the ride down here in the limo; well that seemed normal enough. Then we talked to the Queen for a few minutes, ok didn't think anything was strange about that. I remember feeling the magic around the condo but being able to pass through it and looking around Hadley's place, nothing crazy there. I know I went to put on pajamas and Eric was giving me a sexy grin (when is it not sexy though?) and that's when things start to get a little fuzzy. That's where the flashes of um, let's say adult situations come into play.

My brain was in overload and realizing through my headache now that I could hear other brains in the condo below me, was enough to make me decide I needed some fresh air and lots of Tylenol. Problem was, I didn't have a car and I didn't know where the heck I would go anyways. I slipped back into the bedroom and threw on some jeans and my Bon Temps High hoodie. I ran my hands over almost everything in the room until I felt Eric's cell phone on the nightstand, and headed back into the living room.

I searched through the contacts until I found what I was looking for.

"Hi, Mr. Cataliades it's me Sookie" the demon seemed happy to hear from me luckily.

"Good afternoon child! What can I do for you?" he replied.

"Well I'm feeling a little under the weather and I was wondering if you could maybe come get me and take me by the store, if it's not too much trouble?" I hoped I wasn't bothering him.

Well that was surprisingly easy. I wonder if the Queen was ordering him to wait on me? I hope not, I hate feeling like a burden to people. I layed my head back on the cool leather and tried to relax my throbbing head until I heard a loud knock at the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, please no more knocking" I opened the door to see Mr. Cataliades standing there with an eerie smile.

"Ms. Stackhouse, you look as though you have seen better days. Perhaps it has something to do with all the empty bottles I found in the back of the limo?" he was positively enjoying this!

"Yea I think that was maybe not a good idea" I said, knowing that wasn't totally to blame for the shenanigans of last night.

I walked down and got into a black Cadillac, thankful that he hadn't brought the limo just for a quick ride to the store. We drove through the city for a few miles until he pulled in to a drug store. I ran inside and grabbed a big bottle of aspirin and a bottle of orange juice. While I was shopping my phone rang in my purse, it was my brother Jason. _Well great_, I thought.

"Hey Jason what's up?" I asked less than cheerful.

"Hey Sook, how's life in the big easy?" Poor Jason, he wasn't picking up on my less than stellar attitude.

"It's fine I guess, we just got here last night. You should see Hadley's place, it's beautiful."

"Really? That's good I guess. It's nice to know she had somewhere nice before she died, um again." He sounded the way I felt thinking of Hadley as the undead consort of the Queen.

"Yea, well I'm actually at the store right now Jason, is there something in particular you were calling about?"

"Oh yea! Just wanted to tell you about something strange that happened last night. I was sitting at the bar at Merlotte's with Hoyt when this girl came in asking about you. She wanted to know if you were working and she seemed pretty irritated when nobody really paid much attention to her. Anywho, I took the liberty of introducing myself to her and she said she was an old friend of yours and was hoping to see you while she was in town. I told her that you and your boyfriend had taken off to New Orleans for a few days and that I could show her around town if she wanted." Who the hell was Jason talking about? I searched my brain trying to think of who would be looking for me in Merlotte's but I didn't have a clue who it might be. Luckily for me (heavy sarcasm) my brother told this stranger that my home would be empty for a few days and where to find me. Sometimes I wish he would think with something other than his Johnson.

"Ok, well what did she look like?" I asked nervously

"She was about your height, short brown hair, very athletic, and pretty feisty!" I could practically hear him grinning about bedding her through the phone.

"Did you happen to catch her name brother?"

"Of course I did, what kind of man do you think I am? It was uh…Sara…no…Shelly…no….OH yea it was Sandra."

I felt my heart stop for a minute, what the hell was Debbie Pelt's sister doing at Merlotte's and looking for me? I already told that crazy were bitch that I didn't know anything about where her sister was, which was only a partial lie. This couldn't be good.

"Jason whatever you do, don't go around her again and don't tell her anything about me, she is not an old friend!" I was trying to impress the seriousness of the situation on him without him asking a bunch of questions.

"Geez, I'm sorry Sookie, I didn't know"

"It's ok Jason, I'm not mad at you, just stay away from her ok?"

I hung up and went to pay for my purchases. It seemed that Eric and I were not going to get a simple carefree vacation after all. I slunk back into the car and asked the demon to take me to a drive thru. After stuffing my face with a cheeseburger and fries and swallowing a few aspirin, I was starting to feel better by the minute. Mr. Cataliades asked me if he could show me around the city.

"Well that sounds fun if you really want to. If you're being forced by the Queen to do this though, I promise I won't tell her if we don't go"

"Oh Sookie, don't you know by now that I don't mind spending time with you, in fact I find it calming."

Ok, didn't see that coming. What did he mean by that? I didn't get the impression that he meant it in an inappropriate way, but then again his brain was just a red mass to me so if he were thinking about barbecuing me, I wouldn't know it.

"Thanks Mr. C, I feel the same spending time with you. I can't hear you so that is about as calming company as I can ask for other than vamps."

"Great! On we go then!"

We drove through town until we reached Bourbon Street; it was beautiful and lively even in the daylight. I could hear jazz musicians playing on the sidewalks outside some of the restaurants the closer we got. Every so often Mr. C would point out a building and tell me the history; he was as good as having a tour guide! Funny thing is he didn't even seem bored or annoyed when I asked him more questions and looked giddy as a schoolgirl. We drove a little outside the busiest part of the city and he showed me the beautiful cemeteries that seemed to have an otherworldly charm. Yea I know some people are creeped out by cemeteries, but not me. I find them soothing actually. Plus, I know that the real scary things in this world were not buried in these cemeteries.

I was having such a good time; I had let myself forget that I had some strange and disturbing feelings that something wasn't right here in the big easy. Isn't that always when you get slapped upside the head? When you let yourself forget that things are not always as they seem…


	7. This Lifetime & The Next

About an hour after Mr. C had dropped me back off at Hadley's place, I was looking through some boxes that had already been packed up of her belongings. It was intriguing to see the clothes she wore, the perfumes she liked, and the things that made her Hadley. Though these items seemed slightly out of character with the bratty teenage girl I remember, I couldn't even imagine her as a vampire and I'm sure that influenced her tastes in more ways than one. I heard my phone ringing in the other room and ran to get it. Jason was calling again. Was he that bored that he had to keep bugging me?

"Listen Jason I love hearing from you and all but…" I was interrupted by Andy Bellefleur.

"Sookie listen, this is Sheriff Bellefleur. I'm calling to let you know that Jason has been in a car accident."

Panic crept into my heart instantly. "Andy is he ok? What happened? Where is he?" I was frantic, I just knew he was going to tell me the only family I had left was gone.

"He's at the emergency room right now Sookie, his injuries weren't too bad fortunately."

Oh thank you God! "Ok well what happened to him?" I asked now that I could think straight

"He was driving to meet up with one of his buddies and when he tried to slow down; he realized that his brakes weren't working. Luckily he had the sense to aim his truck for an open field and he ended up crashing it into a big barrel of hay after the field had slowed him down." He was thinking that this was one of the very few times Jason had ever used common sense.

"So he didn't get hurt too bad?" I asked

"No, we brought him to get checked out for a precaution mostly. His airbags might have stung his face a little, but nothing that won't heal in a few days."

"Oh good, thank you for calling me Andy" I had more respect for him at this moment than ever before.

"Sure, no problem. By the way Sookie, do you know of anyone who would want to cut his brake lines? I mean I know he's probably pissed off many husbands and boyfriends in this town by his many conquests but I don't know who would be sick enough to do this, he could have easily been killed."

My head was swimming in his statement. When he said there was a problem with the brakes, I just assumed some kind of mechanical problem. Why would anyone do this to him? I had a sick feeling in my stomach thinking of what he told me earlier. He had seen Sandra; she knew he was my brother. Would she try to kill him to hurt me? She didn't even know I had anything to do with Debbie's disappearance, but I'm sure she has her suspicions or she would have already forgotten all about me.

"No sir, I don't know why anyone would do that to Jason, he doesn't have any real enemies" I, on the other hand had a few.

"Well I have to be getting back now Sookie, I need to fill out this accident report. Don't worry I'll make sure Jason gets home and we'll find out who did this." He hung up.

It was about thirty minutes after I got off the phone when Eric woke for the night. I felt him stir in the bond before he came out of the bedroom. I was sitting on the couch in the living room dazed when he sat down and kissed me.

"Good evening Lover. Have you recovered from last night?" He was smirking and asking if I had recovered from more than just a hangover.

"Oh yea I feel better. About last night Eric.." I started to collect my thoughts when he cut in

"It was spectacular my little minx, I honestly didn't know you had it in you"

"Well I don't think I did have it in me. I mean sure a little part of me thinks it was fun, but I would never hook up with a stranger, much less a girl stranger" His expressions were changing and I knew he was not following me.

"But lover it was your idea and I asked you to be sure you wanted to do it, you made it very clear how much you did."

My cheeks were burning now recalling how I made it clear to him. "Yes that's true, but I don't know where that came from. I know it sounds dumb, but I feel like I wasn't in my right mind, like I wasn't the one making those decisions."

"Do you think it was because you had been drinking? Lover I would never have went through with it if you wouldn't have seemed absolutely into it. Have I angered you?" He genuinely looked hurt.

"No of course not! I love you Eric and I know that you did it because you thought I wanted it, but I am just finding it hard to believe that I would want that, even if I had been drinking."

"So if not the alcohol, then what is wrong? I don't think I follow what you're trying to tell me." I felt confusion, irritation, and worry and I knew it was his emotions as well as mine.

"I don't know what I'm trying to say either Eric, I've had a pretty eventful day. I got a call from Jason saying that Sandra Pelt had been in Merlotte's looking for me and he hinted that he had taken her home." Eric's face was stony as he took in the information about Sandra, knowing this can't be good for either of us.

"She told him that she was an old friend of mine and was hoping to see me before she left town, which obviously isn't true. Then I get a call a few hours later from Andy Bellefleur telling me that Jason's brake lines had been cut and he was in a car accident. I don't know about you but I don't think that's a coincidence." As I was trying to explain everything to Eric I noticed that I had that creepy, crawly feeling up my spine. It kinda felt like the way magic makes you feel and what some people would call that Halloween feeling. I figured it was because I was freaking myself out about Sandra.

"So is your brother badly hurt?" Eric was doing his best to look concerned for my sake.

"No, thank goodness he only has some bruises and bumps. I just think that there's no way his brakes were cut the morning after he takes Sandra home and that she didn't have something to do with it."

"I agree my dear. We will have to find out what the Were knows and what she is after. Perhaps we should skip our dinner reservations tonight and go straight to the Queen's compound."

"I think that's a great idea actually. I can't wait to see her again." Why was I excited to see the Queen? I mean she is fine for a vampire and all but she's a little intimidating and not exactly a ball of laughs. Eric had picked up on this as well and was looking at me like I had grown another head.

"You are very excited to see the Queen? Are you feeling alright Sookie?" He was as puzzled as I was.

"Yes I am, I can't really explain why but I feel like I need to see her and can't wait to be there" Ok apparently bizarro Sookie was making another appearance tonight. "One thing though, if for some reason I don't seem to be acting myself tonight, don't let me do anything too crazy like boning another girl or swinging from chandeliers or anything."

"Ok deal." He said with a very confused look on his face. "Although hearing you say _bone another girl_ makes me extremely hard." He smiled with his fangs down.

"There will be none of that right now until we get to the bottom of this Sandra situation and finish our business with the Queen."

Eric had flown us to the Queen's compound and we landed gently on the lawn on the side of the building. I was wearing my new blue dress Eric had bought me along with the matching necklace. I was looking pretty hot if I do say so myself. After we landed, I whipped out my compact and touched up my lip gloss, powdered my nose, and pushed my boobs up a little higher.

"How do I look Eric? Do you think she will like it?" I was nervous about the Queen appreciating how I looked. For whatever reason, I really wanted to impress her and maybe even entice her.

"You look absolutely delicious lover, and I would like to eat you up right here on her Majesty's lawn." He bent down and kissed my neck and I pushed him off me.

"Don't mess up my makeup Eric! The Queen is going to love the way my hair looks grazing my neck" I said seductively at him.

Again Eric was looking confused as ever. I didn't blame him, I hardly knew why the hell I was so interested in what her Majesty thought of my outfit and my abundant cleavage. If anything, why was I not covered in a turtleneck right now?

He decided to shrug it off and led me to one of the entrances that only the Queen's local vampires knew about. We walked up to a large shrub against one of the compound walls and Eric stepped behind it. I heard him punch in numbers on a keypad and then he motioned for me to join him. A piece of the wall slid out of place and we stepped into a large hallway. There were two security guards standing there that would have made Rambo jealous. They were of the undead persuasion and they were ripped with muscles. To finish off the look, they were wearing black body armor and holding an AK. Hanging from their belt loops they had silver handcuffs, silver mace, and two wooden stakes. They looked absolutely lethal. It kinda turned me on.

After Eric whipped out some card that vaguely resembled a license from his wallet, they nodded at him and jerked my little sparkly clutch away and opened it.

"What do you think you're doing with my purse?!" I was mad as hell, who did he think he was?

"It's fine lover, they are just assuring the protection of our Queen." Eric said and tried to push some calming sensation through the bond.

"Well they could have just asked! I would have been glad to show them! I would never harm my beautiful Queen!" Now all three vamps were staring at me. I started to think maybe I should go to the hospital, perhaps I had a minor stroke yesterday and that was why my brain didn't seem to be connected to my body. Vamp Rambo #2 that wasn't rifling through my purse grabbed me and started doing a police style pat down of me.

"A little higher and to the left" I leered at him. Oh God Eric looked like he was going to blow a gasket. He took my hand and started dragging me down the hallway to the main entrance of the mansion.

"Mr. Northman, I wasn't expecting you so early. Did you forget I made dinner reservations for you and Ms. Stackhouse tonight?" She looked slightly annoyed that we were ditching the reservation that had obviously taken some coercing for her to get.

I practically ran up to her and bowed deeply. I took her hand and gave it a light kiss. "Most gracious Queen, we were very eager to come see you."

"That's right your Majesty" Eric said staring at me again like I had offered her a cheeseburger. "I'm afraid the dinner date will have to be delayed. It seems as though my dear one is having some family troubles and she is also acting quite peculiar. I am worried for her."

I had never taken my eyes off of her while he was talking. She was so beautiful, regal, and charming. I was enamored with her.

"Yes I can see that your human is not acting herself tonight. Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered but I don't remember her being so reverent of me before." Now she was looking at me with a confused look. Great, maybe they should just haul me off to the looney bin, or maybe they would be turned on by it and drain me dry. Either way I needed to snap out of it fast.

"Ms. Stackhouse, would you please wait for Mr. Northman and I in the dining hall while we chat for a moment?" The Queen asked me.

"Je voudrais attendre pour l'éternité pour toi ma reine." (_I would wait for eternity for you my Queen) _When the hell did I learn French?!

If it was possible for a vampire to turn even whiter, Sophie Ann had certainly done just that. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at how crazy all of this was. The Queen stepped forward and put her hand on my cheek.

"Hadley?" she whispered as if in a daze.

I felt a weird surge of energy in my body and I began speaking to her, even though it wasn't truly me doing the talking.

"I am here my love. I have longed to see you again, I miss you so much. I can't stand being without you Master." The words even sounded different coming from my mouth. Eric's jaw had dropped and he was standing beside Sophie Ann looking at me in awe.

"Lover, what is going on? What are you talking about?" He looked hurt and confused.

"Eric, I'm sorry I had to borrow my cousin so I could see my beloved again. I promise I will not hurt her." It seemed so funny that I was speaking about myself in the third person.

"Sheriff I don't know how this has happened, but it seems that my Hadley's spirit has found its way into Ms. Stackhouse. This is amazing!" "My dear child, I have missed you so much I have thought of meeting the dawn just in hopes of seeing you again." The Queen was looking at me but not truly seeing me, she was seeing her love, her child, her future that had been taken from her.

"Well not to break up this ghostly reunion your Majesty, but I would like to have my lover back" Eric was getting angry and though he was trying to sound respectful of his Queen, I knew his request was more of a threat.

"I will figure out how to return her to rights Sheriff but I don't know how this happened or how to fix it." Her gaze was fixed on me, never moving. Her hands held mine close to her unbeating heart. "I do know someone who might be able to help us though." She sounded as if that was the last thing she wanted. I wondered if I would ever be Sookie again or if I was destined to be the Queen's talking Hadley doll. She stepped away for just a moment and made a phone call.

"Sheriff, if you please I would like to speak to my child before she is gone again. I would be in your debt." She actually bowed to Eric.

"As you wish your Majesty, I trust you would never harm my bonded" He looked apprehensive but he walked out of the room leaving me, the Queen, and my cousin.

"Hadley dear, tell me how did you come to inherit the body of your cousin Sookie?"

"I really don't know. When Waldo plunged that stake in my heart, I had a split second to send a waft of love to you and then there was nothingness." Hadley's voice filled with despair coming from my mouth was more than I could bear. The tears started flowing from my eyes. "I drifted to a place where I could walk in the sunlight again. It was beautiful. I longed for you to be there with me. All of a sudden, I got this strange itchy feeling and poof I was back in my apartment! Only I wasn't really there, I was just drifting through. I stayed there for a while, I don't know how long but eventually Sookie walked in the door and I became one with her. It was incredible" I couldn't believe my own ears, Hadley had fused with me when I passed through the magic into her house. Well that certainly explained a lot.

"Mon Amour, I am so glad to be able to speak to you again, no matter how it happened. I didn't think I could ever feel pain the way I felt when you met the true death. No maker wants to have their child ripped from them, and no one wants to have their beloved taken from either. I lost all those things when I lost you." Sophie Ann's face was streaked with bloody tears. "I didn't feed for weeks. I didn't leave the compound, Andre tried to send for some hot college girls, but I couldn't do it, it just wouldn't have been the same without you my dear." I was beginning to realize why Amelia tickled my fancy last night. Hell she tickled more than just my fancy.

A few minutes later, Eric walked back in the room with Amelia beside him. She was a little red in the face and obviously a little embarrassed about how closely she had seen him the night before, when she really couldn't remember even meeting him.

Even with Hadley in my brain as well, I was able to pick out Amelia's thoughts_. How much did I drink last night? Damn I wish I could remember everything, not just the really hot parts. Boy, it was hot though! That Viking sure knows how to play a woman like a fiddle, and the blonde is incredible. I wonder if they'll ever talk to me again?_

I wondered if Amelia could tell that I was a million times more embarrassed than the smidge she felt. In fact she was pretty cool with the whole thing. _Thanks a lot Hadley! _I thought to her.

"Ms. Broadway, thank you for coming. It seems as though your spell on my beloved's house has produced some unusual side effects. Hadley's spirit seems to be stuck in Ms. Stackhouse. As much as I wish to keep her near me always, I know I cannot ruin Sookie's life for my pleasure." Thank goodness, I was practically sweating bullets wondering if Sophie Ann would allow me to have my body back and give up her love again.

"I'm so sorry your Majesty, I think when I cast the spell to keep the house just as it was before, it somehow put Hadley back in it. I've been reading the whole way over though and I can fix it…I think." If anyone else in this room was as scared as me it would have to be Amelia. She was wondering what the Queen might do to her for messing up the spell and trapping Hadley in the house.

"Do not be frightened of me witch. You have powerful magic and you were able to do something for me that no one else could have. You gave me the chance to say goodbye to my child. Whether it was intentional or not is irrelevant. I can never repay you enough for what you have given me." The Queen bowed lightly to Amelia and I thought the poor girl was going to faint.

"Ok, well if everyone is ready I'll begin." Amelia said.

"Il m'a pris 500 ans et deux vies pour vous trouver et si elle prend 500 de plus je te retrouverai." (_It took me 500 years and two lifetimes to find you and if it takes me 500 more I will find you again.) _Sophie Ann gazed into my eyes while telling Hadley this and then she kissed me gently.

Amelia was reading an ancient looking leather book and began chanting something in Latin. I felt the tingling feeling from earlier, only it went all through my body and then it was gone. Hadley was gone. The Queen slowly eased her lips away, knowing her beloved was gone again. My knees felt like jell-o from the release of the extra energy and I almost fell to the ground, but Eric was under me in a flash scooping me up in his strong arms.

"Sookie, have you come back to me?" He looked at me with trepidation in his eyes.

"Yes honey it's just plain old me" I gave him a kiss and then threw my mental shields up to keep from receiving all the mental images that kiss had given Amelia.

"Sheriff, I am glad you brought Sookie to me, even though you didn't know what was going on. I'll let you two get back to the house and we can meet tomorrow night to discuss business." When she said this, I noticed her demeanor seemed different than it had before. There was a lightness to her.

"Thank you your Majesty." Eric bowed to his Queen and called Mr. Cataliades to pull around the front and pick us up.

"Amelia my dear, why don't you stay a while?" The Queen was giving her a fanged grin and I knew that was our cue to exit.


	8. Shall We Dance?

_Hope you guys are enjoying the book so far! Thanks for sticking with me and the continued support. I may not have a ton of reviews yet, but the ones that have taken a minute to comment have really helped me. I know this story isn't action packed every page, but I'm trying to build some relationships and still incorporate adventures. Things will begin to pick up soon with the way I'm heading, so hopefully you guys won't get impatient and stick with me for the ride. Thanks again!_

I slept late into the afternoon the next day. Maybe I was exhausted from my mini exorcism, or maybe it was because Eric had kept me up all night and thoroughly drained my energy; not that I minded, but either way I had slept until 4:30 and I hadn't gotten anything accomplished in Hadley's apartment. I set about trying to change that and went back to sorting through her clothes and jewelry and other personal effects that were now mine. My cousin had some very nice clothes that I had set aside to see if I could fit into them, and she had some things that weren't exactly my style or at least not for anything other than being alone with Eric. I may not be able to wear all the clothes, but luckily Hadley's foot was the same size as mine and I found several beautiful pairs of shoes that I would definitely take home for me and Pam.

Even though I felt weird about taking her jewelry, she did have some nice pieces that she had obviously wanted me to have. As I looked through her jewelry box I found a little black velvet bag that seemed set aside as if it were more special than the rest. I opened the bag and found a platinum ring with a big yellow diamond. It was exceptional. I stuck it on my finger and moved my hand around looking at it from different angles admiring the effect. It looked as if I held the sun in my hand. I knew immediately that I would not keep this piece. I had a feeling someone else would treasure it, so I stored it in my purse for later.

I had made several piles in the living room by the time Eric walked in. Clothes to keep, clothes to donate, some other household items I wanted to keep, and a donation pile.

"Good evening lover. I see you have had a productive day." Eric bent down and kissed me. I never understood how vampires looked perfectly alert as soon as they woke up. Humans woke up, stretched, had sleep in their eyes, and generally required coffee to function at that level.

"Actually since someone kept me up until dawn, I've only been at this for a little over an hour. Check out these shoes I'm giving to Pam!" I held up a hot pink pair of Manolo's with silver spikes around the heel. They looked beautiful and lethal, just like Pam.

"She will love them, and she will love you for the thought, though she will never tell you that." Eric smiled thinking about his wily child. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check a text he had received. I never even heard it, so apparently he had the ringtone volume set to vampire hearing.

"Mr. Cataliades says the Queen will meet us at The Crimson Quarter in two hours. Apparently she was able to secure another reservation after we cancelled last night's."

"I wonder how she did that, I mean who would ever give Sophie Ann whatever she asked for?" I said this with a lot of sarcasm and eye rolling. My guess was the manager probably liked his throat intact so he bumped some other party off the list to fit us in.

"Well what would be the fun of being a vampire monarch if not to scare humans into giving you your way?" He was smiling that devilish grin that I loved. "Now whatever should we do for the next two hours…." He was already on me and pushing me to the ground with his lips on my neck.

"Honey as much as I…ooohhh….want to skip dinner and let you eat me instead….aahhh…I really do have to get this done and we shouldn't be late for dinner." He gave me a sad puppy dog look and sat back up.

"Whatever, your loss" He smiled and went to grab me some more boxes to help package the clothes.

Mr. Cataliades showed up an hour and a half later in the limo and drove us to the heart of Bourbon Street. The restaurant was beautiful with its red lettering and black and gold trimming. There was a line of people behind a velvet rope, hoping to get in. It was really like some hot club that everyone was dying to get into (no pun intended) rather than a restaurant. When Eric and I got out of the car, I started to walk to the back of the line when my Viking gave me an odd look and pulled me by the hand to the front.

"I am Eric Northman and this is my date, Ms. Stackhouse. We are with the party of Sophie Ann LeClerq."

The doorman immediately showed us in, much to the anger of the 50 plus people waiting in line. I couldn't help but to grin like an idiot and Eric quickly saw it.

"Lover, what are you so happy about? It's all over your face and in your blood."

"I was just thinking that this is kind of our first date. I know we're technically meeting your boss, but still it's a date" I know he probably thought I was silly but I didn't care. I was in a beautiful place with the man I loved and we were having our first real date.

"You're right, this is a very special night and there is no one else I would rather have with me for my first date." Eric smiled at me and I could feel his love and adoration.

"Your first date? You mean your first date in a long time I'm sure."

"No, I mean my first date. In my time, people did not date. You found a family that had an available daughter and you negotiated with her father to marry her. There was no romancing and taking a walk in the park. Since I have been vampire I have enjoyed the company of many women, but I can't say I sought them out to go on dates with me. In my thousand year existence, this is a new experience."

Wow. I didn't know whether to be honored that I was his first date or upset that he never treated other women with enough value to take them on a date. I think I would stick with the honored thing. I leaned in and gave him a slow, loving kiss.

"You two are so beautiful together." Sophie Ann had slunk up to the table while Eric and I were preoccupied.

Eric slid out of the booth and bowed to her. I stayed seated and dipped my head respectfully.

"Your Majesty you look stunning as usual." Eric, always the charmer.

"Thank you Sheriff. Your mate looks exceptionally beautiful as well." Sophie Ann was looking at me with a hint of fang.

"Thank you your Majesty, that is a great compliment coming from a woman as lovely as yourself." I answered politely. "We really appreciate the invite to the restaurant as well. I hope I can show you a small token of my appreciation with this." I handed her the little velvet bag out of my purse.

"Ooh a gift for me! Whatever could it be?" She actually sounded like a sixteen year old girl instead of the 500 year old power hungry, lethal vampire she was. She turned the bag over and dropped the ring out in her hand. She stared at it for a long moment and I was scared I had done something to offend her.

"I hope I haven't upset you ma'am, I just found it in Hadley's things and I thought you might want to have it."

She quickly swiped away a single blood tear that was in her eye and said "I gave this to Hadley a few months after I turned her. She said the only thing she missed about being a vampire was the sun, but she would gladly give it up to see the moon with me. When I saw this ring it reminded me of what I remember the sun to be, so I gave it to her so she could always have the sun close at hand." She was turning the ring around in her hand and appeared to be trying to remember what it looked like on my cousin.

"I would love to keep it, thank you very much." She smiled at me and I knew I had made the right choice not to keep it.

For the next hour Sophie Ann, Eric, Mr. Cataliades, and myself had what you would think of as a strange double date and actually enjoyed it. Mr. Cataliades and I enjoyed real food consisting of Caesar salad, filet mignon, haricot verts, and the most amazing chocolate soufflé that I've ever tasted. Eric and the Queen had their vampire cocktails consisting of Royal; the premiere and most expensive bottled blood, mixed with just a drop of faery blood. Once our table was cleared of the dishes, Sophie Ann said we should get down to business, and the demon lawyer pulled a stack of papers from his briefcase.

"Ms. Stackhouse let me go over the details of your cousin's last will and testament with you." He read all the legal jargon and then got to the part that I could understand.

"If I Hadley Hale, meet the true death while my beneficiary is still living, I bequeath the following to said beneficiary Sookie Stackhouse: The contents of my personal bank account, any properties that I own free and clear, including any contents in said properties, my share and investment rights in Moonlight Cosmetics Co., and any monies remaining from my inheritance."

I felt the tears well up in my eyes. Hadley and I may have had our differences but I loved her like a sister when we were young and she had thought of me when making her will. I doubt she expected that I would ever outlive her, but still she had set a few things aside for me just in case.

"So my dear, here is how those things break down. First off; a check for Hadley's bank account." Mr. Cataliades slid a check towards me and when I didn't immediately look down, he made a gesture towards it with a head nod. When I looked down, the color ran out of my face. Sitting in front of me was a check for $425,000. I must have looked like I was going to pass out because Eric slid his hand behind me and tried to push some calm through the bond.

"Next we have the deed to the condo you have been staying in. I've already drawn up the paperwork, all I need for you to do is sign on these two lines and initial here." He was showing me where to sign and handing me a pen, but he sounded miles away. Gently, Eric pushed the pen in my hand and placed it at the right spot. I signed something on the deed, not sure if I remembered how to spell my name.

"Of course dear you now also own all the possessions, furniture, etc. in the condo. I wasn't sure if you would want to cash out your shares in the cosmetics company or continue to receive royalty checks as Hadley did, so you can decide that at a later time. Personally, I would keep receiving the checks. After reviewing Hadley's statements, she generally received around $25,000 a month and if you cash out you will only receive a one-time payment of around $350,000.

Oh my God, I was definitely going to pass out. Hopefully Eric wouldn't let my face slam the table too hard when I lost consciousness. Sensing my emotions, he wrapped his arm a little tighter around me and looked me in the eyes.

"Lover I know this must be a lot for you to take in, but your cousin wanted to make sure you were taken care of in the event of her final death." Eric was nothing if not practical.

"He's right dear. Hadley expressed many times that she wished to reconnect with you but just didn't know how. She regretted many of her actions as a human and didn't know if you would want to reconnect with her." The lawyer looked at me and gave me a minute to let everything sink in.

"Moving on to the last part of the will, there's the matter of Hadley's living inheritance that she left to you."

Taking my first breath since we started talking, I asked Mr. C "What is a living inheritance? I mean Hadley was not exactly among the living." I felt like a country bumpkin for asking, but it was the only thought my brain seemed to be able to process for the moment.

"I can answer that for you Sookie." Said the Queen. "Right after I made Hadley vampire, we had a sort of pledging ceremony. It was a way for us to show our devotion to each other as lovers, maker and child, and life partners. As you know many vampires live very, very long lives and if Hadley had to wait for my death to benefit from my will, she may have been waiting hundreds of years, if ever. So instead vampires have a living will. Yes I realize the term is an idiom, but you get the point. As part of our union, I gave Hadley her share of my living will and she has left the remainder to you."

"Ms. Stackhouse, the check for the will is in this envelope. Perhaps we have handled enough business tonight. You and Mr. Northman should enjoy the remainder of the evening and just take the envelope with you." Mr. Cataliades was probably scared I might scream or burst into tears if he gave me anything else.

I shook my head and put all the papers and envelope away. Eric slid out of the booth and motioned for me to join him. He pulled me to the dance floor and held me close to him. I was starting to come back to my senses now. I noticed the look of his muscles moving under his burgundy button down shirt, the smell that was uniquely him, and his strong arms gliding me across the floor as if I were weightless. It was priceless. I felt so much love for him in that moment I thought my heart would burst. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my cousin and mixed in with my devotion to Eric; it was all I could do to hold back tears. We danced well into the night, even mixing it up with the Queen and Mr. C. I really couldn't remember the last time I felt so happy and had so much fun. We said our goodbyes to Sophie Ann and jetted away in the limo back to my new place.

Eric and I were sitting on the bed entwined in each other, discussing our evening.

"I had a wonderful time with you tonight min alskare" He gently kissed my head.

"I had such a great time with you too. You know because of my little ability I haven't really been able to date either and tonight was wonderful. I love you Eric Northman. Maybe I have since the moment I met you, but just didn't want to admit it to myself. I feel things when I'm with you that I didn't know I could ever feel. You make me laugh and smile. You make me crazy sometimes! You give me pleasure so intense I didn't know it was even possible. I can't think of anyone else on this earth I would rather spend my time with."

We lay there kissing, touching, and enjoying each other's company until it was almost time for the sun to come up. I got up to go to the bathroom and reached into my purse and grabbed the envelope on the way in. I opened it and saw more zeros than I've ever seen in a number. My knees gave out and I hit the floor with a thud. Eric ran in and picked me up and placed the $10,000,000 check back in the envelope.


	9. Gotcha Bitch

Around 1:00 pm the next day I rolled out of bed and slowly made my way through the dark bedroom. I was beginning to get a feel for the room after three days of sleeping here. Eric of course was out cold for several more hours. I went to the kitchen and immediately brewed some coffee I had bought the day before. By the look of things outside, I was going to need a few cups to wake up on this cloudy day.

I was sitting on the couch sipping my second mug when I heard a knock at the door. I sent my extra sense out to see who was outside and found that it was Amelia. Oh great, this was certainly the conversation I wanted to have right after I woke up. I went to the door and greeted Amelia and asked her to come in.

"Hi Sookie!" Her mood was chipper and her hair and makeup were perfectly put together. She was basically the opposite of me at the moment.

"Hi Amelia, how are you?"

"Oh I'm great, thanks for asking! Listen, I just thought we should talk and get to know each other better, I mean I guess we know each other pretty intimately but I'm still real foggy about that night and I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember much about you."

I'm sure I was blushing at this point, but that was my problem. Obviously she wasn't as uptight about her sexual escapades as I usually was so it was my turn to suck it up and take my medicine.

"The thing is Amelia; I'm a little embarrassed because I don't usually do things like I did the other night, ever. Not that it wasn't fun, because it was, but that's the first time I've ever done something so adventurous and I don't know what to say to you now." I couldn't look her in the eye while talking.

"Oh hell well that's ok! We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I just feel kinda bad because from what I know of you, I think we could be good friends and I don't want that night to mess up a kick ass friendship I think we could have." She was smiling and it lightened my mood tremendously to hear her talk about it with ease.

"No nothing is messed up. I agree, I think you seem really cool and I don't have many girlfriends so I would love to get to know you better, you know with our clothes on." I winked at her.

"Awesome! How about we go get some lunch? I know a place not far from here with the best cheese steak subs in Louisiana. In fact, we could just walk there if you want to since the rain shouldn't be here until this evening."

"That sounds good. Just give me about fifteen minutes to get ready and I'll meet you in the courtyard ok?" This was turning out to be a good day after all. Amelia went downstairs and I went and threw on some black leggings, a fitted gray sweater dress, and my uggs. I met her down in the courtyard and we set off to walk to the diner.

We were walking down the sidewalk for about a mile, chatting about what she did for a living, who I was in relation to Hadley, etc. when someone called out my name from behind me.

"Sookie Stackhouse, is that you?" Two large men were waving me down and smiling. Did I know them from somewhere? I latched onto their brain and found the tangled snarl that told me they were Weres. I didn't recognize them from Alcide's pack either. They were only about ten feet away when I heard a fairly clear thought, "_gotcha now bitch_."

I grabbed Amelia's hand and yelled RUN! We didn't even have time to yell for help before they had grabbed us and were running towards the alley. There was an old gray van waiting and we were slung inside quite painfully. A-hole #1 grabbed a piece of rope and tied my hands together in front of me, while A-hole #2 did the same thing to Amelia.

"I don't know who you are, but if you want me, please let her go! We just met; she has nothing to do with whatever is going on!" I yelled at them pleading for them to let my new friend go. This is one reason why I don't have many friends, not human ones anyways, I don't want them caught up in the supe trouble I always seem to find myself in. I would never forgive myself if they hurt her just because of me. Judging by the flashes in their twisted brains though, I didn't think I would have long to regret it before they killed me too.

My thoughts were racing so fast I couldn't keep them straight. My abductors duct taped both our mouths and the van was speeding away. I was screaming in my head for someone to help us, but I knew it was useless. Even with the overcast day, it would probably be three hours before the vampires rose. I looked over at Amelia with tears streaming down my face, pleading with my eyes to tell her how sorry I was. She was of course terrified, but looked more pissed than anything. I heard through her thoughts that she wished they hadn't taped her mouth shut so she could cast a spell. I got angry as well when I realized I hadn't yet told Amelia that I was a telepath so she wouldn't know to communicate with me this way.

The big, burly Were that had taped my mouth was thinking about how pleased she would be when they came back with me. She would probably have sex with him again for doing such a good job. He was disgusting and I realized that the mastermind behind my kidnapping had been a woman and she had given these men sex and money to find me in New Orleans. I also heard her name in is his head, Sandra Pelt had set me up. Obviously that twisted bitch was just as bad as her sister Debbie. I shuddered when I thought of what she had in store for me and probably Amelia when we arrived at our destination.

The other guy, also a Were was just thinking about how cute Amelia was and how he wanted to rough her up and have sex with her. Oh God he was thinking about doing horrible things to her sexually, it almost made me vomit. He started grabbing her thighs and sliding her towards the end of the van and she was kicking and thrashing with everything she had. He had her jeans unbuttoned and was starting to yank them down when I felt an anger so intense I knew I wouldn't let him do this to her, no matter what it cost me. I drew both my knees up and kicked the man in the head as hard as I could, which was pretty darn hard considering all of Eric's blood I had in me. It was enough to disorient him and make him stop what he was doing to her. Unfortunately it earned me a hard slap across the face from the burly guy guarding me. The pain was immediate and intense and I felt my eyes flood with tears.

"What's wrong bitch are you jealous?" he spat at me. "Don't worry cream puff we weren't going to forget about you!" He ripped my leggings from the thighs up to the crotch and was pushing my panties to the side while I was kicking and trying to cross my legs as hard as I could. Of course this only made the psychopath more excited, so he punched me in the stomach knocking the wind out of me. My panties were in shreds and he pulled his disgusting dick out of his pants and was about to jam it into me when he fell over top of me and blood started spraying out onto my dress. Amelia was back beside me and had rammed a screwdriver through his neck. I struggled to get out from under him and Amelia tried to help push him off me. She had a disgusted look on her face and was shaking like a leaf when nasty Were #2 was crawling back towards us, still a little disoriented. Amelia backed into the corner of the van, unable to do anything but shake when I reached down and pulled the screwdriver out of his neck and just as he lept for me, I pointed it up and it went right into his eye.

To be continued...Probably later tonight!


	10. Revenge Is Best Served Cold

"OUCH!" I screamed as Amelia ripped the duct tape off my mouth. I looked at her and said "brace yourself" and ripped hers off.

"Son of a bitch! Why are werewolves trying to kidnap you?" She yelled and rubbed her mouth where the tape had probably ripped pieces of skin off.

"Oh God I'm so sorry to drag you into this, I didn't know they were after me! I would have never put you in danger on purpose! I'm so sorry!" I blurted the words out and prayed she wouldn't leave me with the other two who were driving. I started untying the rope off her wrists and she grabbed mine and did the same. Stupid guys obviously didn't think we would be strong enough to get out of them.

"It's ok, it's ok! I believe you, but we have to get out of here now! Think Amelia, think!" She seemed to be searching her brain for something.

"Ok I think I've got it!" She said.

"Well hurry up!" The other two men were slowing down and the one in the passenger seat was unbuckling his seat belt to reach the back with us.

"Rota vado obfirmo quod werewolves somnus , subsisto is car quod nos ero solvo." Amelia was chanting and when the last words left her mouth the car screeched to a stop and the men slumped over snoring.

"Thank God you're a witch! Let's get out of here!" We jumped out of the back and looked around trying to get a feel for where we were and which way to run. We were surrounded by nothing but woods and we were on a long gravel driveway. About 100 yards down the gravel drive I could see a log cabin.

"Oh no, I think we were almost at our destination, we've got to run!" I grabbed her hand. "This way!" We took off in the opposite direction of the house and scrambled into the woods.

Amelia was running and trying to get her pants buttoned at the same time. I figured I couldn't possibly set myself to rights since my leggings were ripped wide open and hanging down my leg and my dress was covered in blood. I guess I wouldn't be winning any prettiest kidnapping victim contests today.

"You know they're going to be on us in no time, they're Weres too." I told Amelia, never slowing down.

"What are we gonna do? I can't think of a spell right now, my mind is too rattled!"

"We need them to lose our scent, throw your clothes off." I was already pulling at my torn leggings and I threw my dress over my head and dropped it. "Alright we've got to keep moving"

I noticed once I had on only my bra and panties that it had started raining and I was glad for it. Maybe it would help disguise our scent. After we had run for a little longer, we came across a large thicket of bushes and decided to hide in them to catch our breath. We sat curled up together inside the bush trying to think of what to do next. I pushed all my fear and anxiety through the bond and tried to reach out mentally to Eric. I knew it would still be a little longer before he woke up but I prayed it would be soon enough.

"I smell something sweet, and scared!" Laughed a gruff voice getting closer to our hiding place.

Amelia almost shrieked and I clamped my hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

I knew at any minute they would find us and we were surely dead.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are! Don't worry sweetie we just want to talk, Burt and Harley just got over excited, I understand why you had to get rid of them, but we won't hurt you." This was another man speaking, he was yelling this through the woods, he still hadn't found us but he could smell that we were close by. This clown was also a really bad liar.

I heard their voices get farther away while we sat there huddled together in the rain. It felt like it was an eternity that we were there, but I guess it was more like an hour. We had layed down as close to the ground and each other as possible, but the steady rain and chilly weather was really starting to hit us since our adrenaline had stopped pumping so hard. I looked at Amelia and her lips were slightly blue. If we couldn't get out of here soon we were going to be in bad shape. My brain was foggy because I was so cold and scared, but I tried to use my extra sense to check and see how far away other brains were. I didn't sense anyone close by so I leaned back down to Amelia.

"Amelia, we have to try to get out of here or we're going to freeze." I whispered to her.

"I'm really cold Sookie, I don't think I can run anymore. My legs feel like jell-o." Amelia hadn't even lifted her head up.

"I know honey, I know, but we have to try to get back to a road so we can get help. We just need to go a little further." I tried to encourage her, but between the cold, the pain in my stomach, and draining so much energy earlier, I didn't know if I had the fight left in me either. I drug myself to my knees and pulled her up.

"Are you ready? We need to be quiet and move as quickly as we can without making too much noise. Take my hand, but if they grab me then let go and run as fast as you can and don't stop" I said looking straight in her eyes. "I'm sorry you got caught up in this" My eyes were filling with tears again.

"Hey, it's not your fault that these crazy ass Weres decided to kidnap us, beat us, and almost rape us. There's no excuse for that, no matter what their problem is with you. By the way, I'm not leaving you here so don't mention it again." She weakly gave me a little smile. I knew from her thoughts that she was being sincere and I vowed to myself that I would get her out of this no matter what.

"Let's go" I whispered and we were slinking through the woods trying to move quickly. I was so cold and tired and my whole body ached.

"Look, there's a paved road up…." WHAM! Amelia fell to the ground and one of the men were jumping on her and before I could help her I was grabbed from behind.

"Get off me you piece of shit!" Amelia was fighting with her attacker and had landed a great right hook on his jaw.

"You're gonna regret that bitch! I'll make sure to take my time torturing you!" The man hauled off and punched her in the face and then rib cage. I screamed for him to stop but instead he pulled out a knife and started slowly pushing it into Amelia's stomach, smiling the whole time. He had only punctured the skin when I lost all control.

"I'm the one you want you big pussy! Why don't you pick on someone your own size, you have to hit women that are half your size! I bet you have a really tiny dick too!" I spewed every foul thing I could think of at him hoping to distract him from my friend. It worked too because he came over to me and ran the knife in between my boobs and down my stomach.

"Once they're done with you, I'm gonna gut you like a fish" he growled at me.

Although I should have been scared out of my mind, I felt the biggest surge of rage that's ever filled me. I opened my mouth to spew more hate at the man when I felt a gust of air blow past me and faster than I could blink my eye, Eric had taken the man and twisted his neck almost 180 degrees. As I was watching this, the man who had a hold on me was jerked off me and thrown into a tree where a branch impaled his chest. It was Bill behind me.

Eric scooped me up and his eyes were glowing with all the rage he felt. "My love, what have they done to you? I will make them suffer in ways they can't even imagine." His voice was the scariest thing I've ever heard. "You're freezing, and you're almost naked. Did they touch you?" His anger was palpable; it made my blood feel like it was boiling. "I can smell them on you. I swear to you I will kill every last Were scum involved in this!"

"It's ok honey, I'm ok. Please Bill, help Amelia!" I cried

Amelia was still lying on the ground where the man had beaten her and she looked terrible. I ran over to her while Bill looked at her injuries. She looked so hurt and cold; I didn't know how much damage was done to her. I scooped her in my arms and bawled.

"Bill please give her some blood! She saved my life and it was my fault she got hurt, please hurry!"

Without thinking twice, he bit into his wrist and held it to her mouth while he held her.

"Amelia dear, drink from me. You're going to be alright." Bill said to her softly.

Eric had picked me up and cradled me in his arms. I didn't even realize he had bit his own wrist until he pushed it in my mouth. I held onto him for dear life and drank like I was in the Sahara and he was a water fountain. After a few more seconds, I already felt much better and unlatched from him.

"Thank God you guys are here. I thought they were going to kill us." I whispered to Eric and Bill.

Amelia was looking better by the minute; the bruises and swelling on her face were fading and her lips were starting to pink up. I saw the skin around the puncture wound seal together and blend back in with her skin color.

"Who has done this to you? What happened?" Eric was pacing in the woods, mad as hell. He pulled his shirt off and pulled it over my head. Bill looked down at Amelia almost naked and pulled off the jacket he was wearing and wrapped her in it.

Amelia and I explained how we were abducted and I cried while telling him about the men trying to rape us. He was holding me against him and we were both pumping rage through the bond.

"That fucking Were bitch will pay for this. I will rip her from limb to limb and then heal her and do it again!" Eric screamed.

"As tempting as that sounds Eric, we need to refrain from killing anymore people right now. At least until we find out who else is involved in this." Eric looked at me like a proud parent.

"She's right. That is good thinking Sookie." Bill chimed in, still holding Amelia.

"Very well, let's go pick their brains" Somehow I didn't think Eric had the same idea of picking their brains that I did.

With Eric carrying me and Bill carrying Amelia, we ran back through the woods at vamp speed towards the house. Eric stopped abruptly when he smelled blood, and looked down to see my dress that I had thrown down earlier. "You did that witch?" He asked Amelia and nodded towards the dress.

"Yep, Sookie kept that bastard from doing God knows what to me and I wasn't going to let him hurt her." She smiled over at me.

"I never realized I could like a witch; well done." That was pretty high praise coming from Eric.

When we reached the wood line right outside the property, Eric and Bill sat us down and said to wait for them. They crept up towards the house and then vanished out of eyesight. I was shaking again from my nerves and the cold when I heard screams and crashing in the house. About a minute later, Bill came out and told us to come in. We walked in the house and I saw three faces I had hoped to never see again. Tied to chairs with rope; there was Sandra, her mother, and father. They just glared at me with hatred and fear in their eyes.

"You stupid bitch, I'll kill you!" Sandra shot off at the mouth without thinking that there were two very angry vampires just feet from her. Eric started to walk towards her, until I told him to stop.

I walked up to her without saying a word and punched her in the face as hard as I could. I could tell by her face that it hurt and it gave me a deep satisfaction. Sandra's mother chimed in and yelled "Don't you touch her!" Before I could do anything about her, Amelia had walked up to her and slapped her with a closed fist.

"That's for one of the many hits I took today bitch!" Amelia's words were venomous.

"All we wanted was to know what happened to our daughter!" She cried. "I thought there was something off about you when we met you in the restaurant that day, so Sandra snuck up to your house one night last week. After searching your property, she found a very faint trace of Debbie's scent at your front door. Why won't you tell us what you did to her? Why would you harm our precious daughter?!" She was sobbing and I snorted at her ridiculous description of Debbie as precious.

"You snuck around my house? You came to my work; you tricked my brother into thinking you were a friend looking for me, and then almost killed him! Then you have me kidnapped, along with my friend, and we get beaten and almost raped because you think I'm guilty of something against your precious fucking sister?!" My voice had become more shrill until I was screaming at them.

"I know you did something to her you little cunt! You should have just told us the truth and taken your punishment!" That was Sandra, always the idiot. I was so enraged right now I could hardly see straight.

"Yes I killed her! That psycho was jealous of me for being friends with Alcide while she was engaged to another man! She picked a fight with me the first night I met her and set my jacket on fire, then tried to kill me while nobody was looking during a Were fight. A fight in which I was helping the Weres! Then when I get home that night, she's sitting in my kitchen with a gun and tries to shoot me! If my boyfriend wouldn't have taken the bullet for me, I would be dead! So yes, I grabbed my shotgun and killed her!" My heart was racing, but I felt no sympathy for them. "And it felt fucking amazing too!" That wasn't true, at the time it disgusted me but right now I just wanted to hurt them even more.

Her mother and father were sobbing and Sandra was crying but looking enraged.

"I'll make you pay for this! I'll never let you get away with this! I'll take away everything you love in life for what you've taken from me!" Sandra said

"You already have! It wasn't enough that Debbie made my life hell for no reason, but then you almost kill me, my brother, and my friend to get revenge for something I had to do in self defense! You're all really fucked up in the head!" I walked over and slapped her again as hard as I could. "I do believe you however that you won't ever let me or my loved ones live in peace."

Her expression changed, knowing that she shouldn't have said that.

"What do you want me to do with them lover?" Eric asked calmly. "You wouldn't want to hear what I have to say about it, so I'll let you decide."

I looked at Amelia and said "what do you think?"

"If it was me and my family she had tried to kill, I would kill them all myself" Well at least I didn't have to worry about her hating me for what I was going to do.

I looked at Eric and Bill. "Drain them." I said calmly.

After a moment's hesitation from Eric while looking at me shocked, they both turned around and the last thing I heard was the sound of fangs running out.

_Hope you guys are enjoying the story! I have lots of ideas swirling for how to finish this book and start the next. I won't be doing plots that were already used in the books, I did however want to rewrite this scene from the first time I read it in book 6. I thought the way Sookie just let the Pelts go was ridiculous. Even she isn't that dumb or forgiving, so this is what I had always pictured in that scene. Hope everyone sticks with me to see where life is taking Eric, Sookie, Bill, Pam, and the rest of Bon Temps!_


	11. Interview With A Vampire

Eric, Bill, Amelia, and I were standing in the driveway watching the blaze of fire in front of us. After Eric and Bill had finished with the Pelts, they had untied them from the chairs and put their bodies at different spots in the house. Amelia and I found a gas can in the garage and soaked the house with it. After the vampires had gotten a safe distance back from the house, I threw a few matches inside and walked away. Strangely, it had felt more like just another task that needed to be done and it didn't really bother me at all. I knew this was not the way Gran had raised me, but more and more lately I've realized that maybe I've always been a fighter and a survivor. If that means that occasionally I have to get my hands dirty to protect myself and the people I love, then so be it.

"Are you ok lover?" Eric asked wrapping his arms around me.

"Yes. In fact for the first time since Debbie Pelt entered my life, I don't feel like I have to look over my shoulder. Not from her or her family at least." I still had plenty to look over my shoulder about.

I heard gravel crunching and looked to see Mr. Cataliades pulling down the driveway. He stopped a few feet from us and got out. He walked to the back of the car and opened the door and Sophie Ann stepped out. _Oh geez, we don't need more witnesses._

The Queen walked up to us looking weary of the inferno ahead. "Ms. Stackhouse, Amelia; I'm glad to see you two are alright. What in the world happened to you?"

For the second time that night I relayed our ordeal. Sophie Ann's facial expressions never changed; which is normal for vampires, but Mr. Cataliades looked almost as mad as Eric.

"Fucking werewolves! Always more trouble than they are worth!" Said the Queen, finally showing some emotion.

"I agree your Majesty. I'm sorry I wasn't around to help you during the daylight when your vampire was at ground my dear. I would have gladly taken out those animals to protect you." It touched me that Mr. Cataliades cared enough about me to say that.

"It's not your fault Mr. C, I knew Sandra was sniffing around but I guess I didn't realize how far she would go to get to me. I'm just sorry that Amelia got caught in the crossfire." I turned to her with regret.

"Hey no more of that! I've already told you that I don't blame you for this and you saved me too. For future reference though buddy, when I said we would have a kick ass friendship, I didn't mean for you to take it so literal." She was smirking at me and I realized that in the few days we had known each other, she had become more important to me than some of my so called friends back home.

Eric chimed in, "I hate to break up this love fest, but we need to get out of here before the authorities show up." He was right. We might be out in the middle of nowhere but eventually someone would see the flames or the smoke and call for help.

We were in the limo heading back towards the city when Sophie Ann looked over at Eric and me and said "I realize you've had a very trying day Sookie, but I would like for all of you to come back to my home with me for a little while. I need to speak with you and my Sheriff and I'd like to have my staff pamper you and Ms. Broadway. They will fix you anything you would like for dinner, and I think an hour in the spa with some new clothes will help you both feel much better."

As much as I just wanted to be alone with Eric in the condo, I knew the Queen was honoring us with her invitation and it would offend her if I turned it down.

"Thank you ma'am that would be very nice." I replied and Eric sent a load of approval through me. I guess he thought I would pitch a tantrum about it, but I had been dealing with vamps long enough now to know a few things.

"That sounds great your Majesty. I could always go for a visit to the spa!" I was beginning to think Amelia was the definition of an eternal optimist.

Sophie Ann looked at Bill "I hope you will also join us this evening Mr. Compton."

"Of course my Queen, it would be my privilege."

Wow! The Queen wasn't kidding when she said her staff would pamper us! Amelia and I were cloaked in a soft chenille robe, lying back having a facial in the Queen's personal spa. When we first arrived, two human females had led us back to a large, multi-shower bathroom. It was a very large area covered in beautiful mosaic tiles in all shades of blue and teal. Each giant shower stall had some kind of fancy showerhead that had about 100 spray settings and a digital temperature gauge. I wondered if I could have a shower like this installed in my old farmhouse with my new found inheritance. Imagine all the showers Eric and I could take together! No, better slide those thoughts away for now. We had both scrubbed up with an assortment of body washes, moisturizers and shampoos in every scent imaginable.

After the facials, two very muscular vampires came in and said they would be doing our massages.

"Oh uh, you don't have to do that, we feel great already" I smiled nervously at him.

"Do not worry Ms. Stackhouse, Hans and I have been professionally taught the way to massage humans without hurting them. We are also perfect gentlemen." He smiled showing me his fangs were completely retracted.

"Well ok, I guess it would be nice. Thank you" I felt silly for questioning them, but you have to be careful around vamps that could crush your spine without thinking twice.

"This is wonderful" Sighed Amelia. "I should have made better friends with the Queen sooner!"

After every piece of my body felt relaxed, Amelia and I were sent to one of the large upstairs bedrooms and a young vampire was waiting for us. Her platinum blonde hair was very curly and she had a beautiful, short, fuchsia strapless dress on. The dress was offset by her neon yellow heels. She looked like she was a sorority sister who had been made vampire.

"Hi guys, nice to meet you! I'm Salem and I'll be your stylist this evening" She beamed at us. I almost snorted at her cheerfulness. I have never seen a vampire so happy in my life! Of course it wouldn't be a good idea to snort since she could still rip my throat out.

"Oh this is too much!" Amelia said to the girl, but only because she thought she should. I heard it right from her head that she was as happy as a clam. Apparently she had forgotten the dreadful events of the day.

The sorority vamp asked our sizes and took each of us behind a changing curtain. She sped off for a few minutes, apparently perusing the closets full of clothes, shoes, lingerie, and accessories. She came back with a few different outfits for each of us to try on. I had to admit she had fantastic taste.

The second outfit I tried on, I fell in love with. It was a short, black, fitted skirt with a neon blue peplum top. When I came out and showed her, she let her fangs run out a little when she smiled. I guess she liked it?

"I'll be right back!" She was off at vamp speed searching in the rear of one of the closets. She came back with a black cuff bracelet, a silver bangle bracelet, and silver high heels.

Amelia stepped out looking equally as fabulous with her long, purple maxi dress. I was a little too busty for the neckline of that dress, but on Amelia it was just right. She was also outfitted with accessories and within minutes we were ready to go.

"Damn we look hot!" Amelia whistled at our reflection in the mirror, and we headed downstairs to the lion's den.

When Amelia and I walked into the dining room, we got some pretty serious stares from all the vamps in the room. I went and sat beside Eric who was all kinds of lusty and I think I felt relief from him too. I realized he was relieved that I had made it out of today relatively unscathed and my mental health didn't seem to be suffering either. I was pretty relieved at that also.

Mr. C sat down beside me, while Amelia sat beside Bill and in front of me. The Queen sat at the head of the table of course. I couldn't wait to see what we were going to be served for dinner, considering I hadn't ate in 24 hours. My stomach was growling the whole time I was trying on clothes.

Two waiters came in the room; one was carrying a tray with 3 bowls of minestrone soup, 3 bowls of blood bisque, and a loaf of made from scratch bread and whipped butter. Us humans and demons dug in and didn't come up for air until the bowls were clean and the bread was gone. We went on to receive an entrée of lobster tail, prosciutto macaroni and cheese, and steamed broccoli; as well as vanilla bean cheesecake for dessert. I didn't think I could ever hold that much food, but it was fantastic. Hopefully I wouldn't pop the seams in the skirt.

"Bill, why don't you take Ms. Broadway for a tour of the grounds" Sophie Ann smiled gracefully while politely dismissing him and Amelia.

Bill held his arm out like a true southern gentleman for Amelia. "Shall we?" he grinned at her

"We shall. I can't wait to see the rest of this place, it's like Disneyland!" They set off to explore the mansion and grounds.

"Sookie last night we didn't get to talk about everything I wanted to talk to you about. I would like to offer you a position in my employ. I would like to keep you on retainer to help me with some human dealings and summit meetings. You could of course stay in Bon Temps if that is your wish, and I will summon you when I need you. I'm willing to pay you $5000 per month base pay whether I need you that month or not, and if we need to go any further than New Orleans, I will double that. Most of the times I will need you it will most likely only be for a day or two at a time. I expect you will want Mr. Northman to travel with you if we leave New Orleans, and that is acceptable to me." "Sheriff, I will also reduce your monthly payment to my kingdom by 15% if you consent to this arrangement as well."

This trip was starting to get a little overwhelming. Let's reflect on the last few days. I had my first threesome, was possessed by my dead cousin's spirit, became a millionaire, got myself kidnapped, sent three sick twisted individuals to their deaths, committed arson, had my first spa treatment, and now I was being offered a job by vampire royalty. Yep, just another week in the life of Sookie Stackhouse.

"I'm assuming you don't want to hire me for my waitressing abilities huh?" I grinned at her, stalling for a minute until I could process her request.

"Though I'm sure you are good at that as well, I am more interested in your supernatural abilities my dear." Luckily she had a sense of humor tonight.

"Your Majesty, if my bonded one agrees to this arrangement, I am sure you have measures in place to ensure her safety." He said it with a question in his voice and I was glad he was the one to bring it up.

"Of course Sheriff. I know how attached you are to her and to be honest, I am quite fond of her myself. She has the same passion for life that Hadley did. I can see that she is intelligent, brave, and resilient. I would be honored to have her on my staff."

"So you would only call me when you needed me and other than that, Eric and I would be allowed to remain living where we choose in peace, correct?" I asked as politely as I could but still with a firmness in my voice.

"Yes. I have no interest in trying to steal you away from your love. I know all too well that pain. Plus, Eric is my most profitable and powerful Sheriff, I wouldn't want to have him angry with me." Well that was pragmatic.

"Then my answer is yes, I will work for you when you need me under those conditions. I'm honored to be in your employ ma'am." I knew how to be a lady and though I didn't picture myself working for vampires, I knew this was the best way to keep myself and Eric safe from others who might want to take me from my home.

"Wonderful! Now Mr. Cataliades has a few things to discuss with you."

"Yes child, I was afraid you couldn't handle anymore news last night so I thought it best to wait to finish our conversation. In regards to the condo you now own in New Orleans, you can keep it as a home away from home, which might come in handy now that you will be working for the Queen; or Ms. Broadway has offered to buy it back from you at $300,000 if you don't want to keep it."

I looked over at Eric and asked "What do you think? Should we just keep it so we have a place to stay when we're on business here?" I could tell by the way he looked at me and the pride I felt from him that he was happy I had asked his opinion on the matter. I know I could be as stubborn as a mule sometimes, but I knew that a real relationship was give and take and I needed to include him in on parts of my life, and decisions I made.

"If you would like to keep it lover I think it would be nice to have it here and already set up for a vampire instead of needing accommodations when we come to town, but the final decision is yours." He kissed my hand.

"I think we will keep it at least for now Mr. C." I answered. "I've been thinking and I want to discuss something with you as well your Majesty. I don't think I can keep the money from Hadley's inheritance. I mean, you gave it to her as part of your pledging and you meant for her to have it for her long life. Since she has sadly met the true death, I think it's only right that you take it back for yourself." I hoped I didn't offend her. I couldn't read the look on her face.

"I can see why Mr. Northman is so enamored with you. You are so different from most humans. I did give the money to Hadley willingly and freely to do with what she chose. She wanted you to have it should something unfortunate happen to her and I think she made a great choice. I insist you accept it, but I appreciate the offer."

Well that was awkward. I couldn't imagine how I was going to tell my brother that our finally dead cousin Hadley had made me an overnight millionaire, part owner of a vampire cosmetics company and owner of a swanky New Orleans condo. I had no idea what I would do with any of the money and I couldn't bring myself to even think about it yet.

"If you are absolutely sure your Majesty, then I will accept the inheritance. If you ever change your mind though, please let me know." I swear I saw her giggle.

Bill and Amelia had walked back in and we all said our goodnights. Amelia, Eric, and I were taken back to the condo by Mr. C and we were all bone tired when we parted ways. A few minutes later, Eric and I were snuggled in bed and as he held me close to his body, I fell into a deep sleep while he whispered sweet nothing in my ear in his native language. Even after a failed kidnapping, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world at that moment.


	12. The Cat's Meow

_Eric and Sookie have had some adventures in the big easy, and soon their trip will be coming to an end. I have so many thoughts running through my head about different characters and storylines, so I will wrap this book up in the next 2 chapters probably so I can concentrate on the next one. Thanks for sticking with me through my "practice" book and please follow me so you can read the next one!_

Shortly after dusk the next evening, Eric woke me up in my favorite way. I had been up all day dropping off clothes at Goodwill and packing mine and Eric's bags to get ready to head home. I crawled back in bed late in the afternoon to catch a nap before Eric rose for the night.

"Good morning lover" Eric whispered as he nibbled my ear lobe.

"Honey, its six o'clock in the evening" I said

"To me it is morning, I just woke up. It really doesn't matter what time it is anyways." He smiled and flipped onto his back putting me on top straddling his waist.

"Ooh do you want to play min Viking?"

The only response I got back was a low growl. Oh boy this was gonna be fun! There's just something about Eric that makes him able to disintegrate panties at just the sound of his voice.

Eric leaned up towards me and began kissing my neck and shoulders. I gently pushed him back down and said "allow me." I slowly pulled the straps of my tank top down one at a time and then lifted the shirt off. I wasn't wearing a bra, so I rubbed my hands up my stomach and caressed my breasts and pinched my nipples. He was definitely enjoying the show and almost grabbed me back when I slid off the bed and stood beside it.

"Shall I finish undressing for you Master?" I asked with a sultry and subservient look.

Well that really got him going! I felt a wave of pleasure and lust wash over me as he stood up from the bed in front of me.

"Ja gör min jungfru, du då jag bjuder dig" (_Yes my maiden, you will do as I bid you)_ He sounded so fucking hot speaking like that I didn't think he was even going to touch me before I got off.

"Då du önskar" (_As you wish_) I began slowly untying the strings of my pants and then slid them off . I stood there in my white lacy thong for a few seconds, while he took in the sight, and then I turned my back to him and slid them down. I kicked them over towards him just for good measure.

"Now you naughty girl, you will come over here and see how much of me you can fit in your mouth. I will tell you when and if your actions please me." He commanded and I was more than happy to oblige.

I slunk over to him and jerked his pants down. His boxer briefs were barely able to contain him he was so aroused, and I'm pretty sure I was drooling. I freed him of the rest of his clothes and then got on my knees and started licking the underside of his length first while staring in his eyes. I grabbed him with my hand and started moving in rhythm with my mouth. I would deep throat him a few times and look up at him to watch the pleasure on his face. After a few minutes, he was so hot he started gently thrusting his hips towards my mouth to pick up the pace. I loved that I could bring him so much pleasure and it was practically torture not to throw him down and plunge him inside me. I started this game of letting him be in control though, so I had to be patient. Plus I knew when it was my turn it would be well worth the wait. A few more thrusts from him and I moaned while he was still in my mouth and it sent him over the edge. I swallowed everything he gave and made sure he could watch me do it. He looked down at me and growled again and threw me over onto the bed.

"Du har gjort mycket väl för din herre. Du belönas" (_You have done very well for your master. You will be rewarded) _

_Oh boy I couldn't wait to get that reward! _I had to control myself from giggling like an idiot when he said that. Instead I would try to turn him on some more, if that was possible.

"Vänligen berätta mig vad denna belöning är min Kung. Jag kan inte vänta på att ta emot det" (_Please tell me what this reward is my King. I can't wait to receive it)_

As soon as the last word left my lips, Eric was kissing and licking all the way up the inside of my thighs. As he kissed them, he put one finger inside me and another finger began running circles over the most sensitive spot on me. I was halfway to O-town by the time he started licking and running his tongue in and out with his finger. I could feel the pleasure building inside me so deeply. It started like a tingling in my toes and ran all the way up my body, by the time it consumed me I felt like I was flying. My hot center was flowing into his mouth and he never stopped what he was doing, instead he quickly flipped me over on all fours and pushed my ass up high so he could still reach my clit. The different angle his tongue was now hitting was enough to send me back over the edge again in a screaming orgasm. After I came, I collapsed on the bed feeling like I had run a marathon.

"You taste amazing lover. Now let's see if you can keep up with me." He groaned

"I don't know how long I can last. I'm just a simple human and you're a big strong vampire. I think I need a pick me up."

He was on me so fast I hardly saw him move. He entered me roughly and it was incredibly erotic. He was kneeling on the bed and I was sitting on his lap with my legs wrapped around him, leaning my body back so he could take in the view of my breasts bouncing as he thrust. He pumped harder until he felt that wonderful place inside me that felt like a rippled wash board. The sensation was amazing for both of us and I knew that he was holding out until I got off. As soon as I felt all the pistons in my body firing, I grabbed his wrist and bit into it and sucked hard. That sent him flying as well and he leaned forward and bit into my neck.

We layed there for a few minutes not speaking, just immersed in our bond. I never thought I would be the kind of person who liked drinking blood, but apparently with Eric I couldn't get enough. Besides the obvious orgasmic pleasure of doing it, I always felt closer to him every time I did it. He too enjoyed it immensely. He told me that our bond would stay strong and we would be more emotionally connected because of how often we made love and drank from each other.

"So besides having mind blowing sex with me, what else would you like to do on our last night in New Orleans? Or is the sex all you want? Because I can make that happen" He was looking at me with his sly grin.

"Well the sex is pretty awesome, but I did want to get out on the town one more time if that's alright with you?"

"Of course lover, I will go anywhere with you. Let me bathe you and then we can go wherever you would like."

"Somehow I think if you bathe me, we'll never make it out of this house tonight!"

"Don't you think I have at least some control my dear?" He mocked me

"Let's see….um…..no!" I jumped off the bed and ran for the door. He was on me lik foot cat on a mouse.

"You're right I don't" He said and carried me into the bathroom. Over the next hour we got clean, then dirty, and then clean again. Finally I was able to finish getting ready and I walked into the living room and looked at my phone. There were two text messages.

_Hey Sook its Amelia. If you and the dead guy don't have plans for 2nite, call me and lets hang out!_

Damn I was going to miss her when we left in a few hours. I wonder if Eric would mind if we took her out with us. The next one was from Jason.

_Hey sis, thanks for checkin on me. I'm feeling good and the bruises are already fading. Kirsten Summers came by to nurse me back to health. ;) Call me when you get back. Love ya_

Well that was typical Jason alright. He was already over his little brush with death and one of his many on call "dates" was there to take care of him. I couldn't help but smile thinking of my brother's carefree attitude and his love of life and women. It made me all the more glad that I had rid the world of Sandra Pelt. She would never get the chance to hurt anyone else I loved.

"Are you ready you sexy thing?" Eric walked in looking like a Scandinavian God. _Did I really want to leave the house or just screw him all night? _

"Yea I'm ready, but I wanted to ask you something my love. Would it be ok if we invite Amelia and Bill to go out with us? I know I haven't known her long, but we've bonded over the last few days and I'm actually going to miss her when we leave." I gave him my best sad puppy dog eyes.

"I believe humans say, the more the merrier" He grinned

"Thanks hun! I'm just gonna text her back and call Bill and Mr. Cataliades."

_Amelia it's on like donkey kong! Be ready to go in 20 mins. – Sookie_

_Bill, we're going out to have fun on the town for our last night in N.O. Wanna come? Me, Amelia, and Eric are going. Catch a ride with Mr. C. and don't be lame, you need some fun in your life! – Sookie_

Eric had stepped out onto the balcony and was on the phone when I went out to join him.

"Yes Pam, Sookie and I will be coming home later tonight. I won't have time to come by before dawn, but I'll see you tomorrow evening at the bar. Yes she's right here, hold on" He handed the phone to me.

"Hey Pam!" I beamed at her through the phone. "Me and Eric have had a great time! I mean there was the whole kidnapping and spirit possession thing, but other than that it's been great."

"Sookie, do you have to get into trouble in every city you visit? You sure are a handful. Now hurry back and bring my maker with you. I am lonely and bored without you two at the bar to help me prank the humans and Bill."

"We miss you too Pam! You won't believe all the cool shoes I'm bringing back for us, Hadley had a shoe fetish almost as bad as yours." I laughed.

"Well now I really want you to hurry back. Bring the shoes by Fangtasia tomorrow and I'll forgive the fact that you two have been off having fun without me. Oh and invite that hot witch for a visit ." Pam said.

"How did you know about Amelia?" I asked confused

"Don't be dense telepath, of course Eric had me run her background and find out about her when you two decided to hang out with her after you shagged her." She said it so matter of fact but I was so embarrassed that Eric had told her about our very intimate meeting with Amelia. Pam was always trying to bring out my bad girl side and now that she knew I had one, she would never let me live it down, even if I wasn't entirely in my right mind at the time.

"Ok well gotta go Pam, our ride is here. See you tomorrow!" I hung up before she could bring the threesome up. I gave Eric a stern look and he just smiled and said "I'm sorry lover, did you want to keep that a secret? Oops." I was going to punish him later for that. In fact I was going to punish him hard.

"Let's go Viking; I'll deal with you later." I said

"Is that a promise?"

I punched him in the ribs and he faked doubling over in pain. One of the many things I loved about him was his sense of humor.

We went downstairs and Amelia came out and greeted us. Soon after, Mr. C pulled up and surprisingly Bill stepped out.

"Bill I'm glad you came! I didn't think you would make it." I said

"Well I didn't want to be thought of as lame." He said with some sarcasm

"So what are we doing tonight because I'm ready to roll!" Amelia said and we all climbed in the limo.

Mr. Cataliades rolled down the divider glass and said "So where are we off to tonight?"

I looked at Eric because I had no idea where I wanted to go, just that I wanted to have fun.

"The Cat's Meow please" Eric said to Mr. C

Amelia looked practically giddy at the idea so I had to ask "What's that?"

"Oh my God it's like the coolest place ever! It's like a mix between a strip club, a nightclub, and a casino. Oh and it's owned by supes so we'll fit in perfectly!" She said

"That's a weird name don't you think?" I asked

"Well they're a couple Werelions that own it so I guess they thought it was funny that humans wouldn't get the underlying message"

"Ms. Stackhouse dear, I took the liberty of refilling the mini fridge for you and Ms. Broadway. I know how much you enjoyed it before" He laughed and then rolled up his window.

"Well Amelia, should we start with dark or clear?" I said looking at all the bottles. This night was already off to a good start.

We only made it through about two bottles each when we pulled up to the club, or casino, whatever. I figured I better pace myself so I could drink all night. I mean it was our last night of our first vacation together, couldn't a girl let loose?

We walked to the front of the line like we had a few nights ago at the restaurant.

"Reservation for Northman" Eric said to the security guard with a clipboard

"Right this way sir. We have your private lounge set up as you requested." He nodded towards someone inside the door and a girl wearing a very short and very sparkly dress stepped out.

"I'll take you all to your lounge, follow me please." She smiled charmingly

That must have been the other call Eric made while I was texting Bill and Amelia. We went through the strip club, which seemed to be upscale if strip clubs could be upscale. Then through the nightclub area where music was blaring and there were 3 bars set up. Two of them served every type of liquor you could think of. Each of those two bars had two busty females with skimpy outfits on and one guy at each that looked like they stepped out of an Abercrombie ad. There was the third bar; this one was for vamps only. There were a few blood cocktails like the other restaurant had, but there were also attractive humans sitting on each bar stool wearing name tags that simply read "donor" Well we certainly weren't in Kansas anymore Toto.

I could just imagine the look on old Bud Dearborn's face if a bar in Bon Temps tried having humans sit around advertising themselves as vampire snacks. He would probably stroke out. I had to stifle my laughter at the image.

We came to an area that was roped off and the host led us in. There were small private lounges with big red velvet couches and you could draw a curtain closed around your area if you wanted privacy or leave it open to take in the rest of the club. I had to push myself mentally to shut out all the explicit thoughts I heard coming from all the brains around me. I grabbed Eric's hand and closed my eyes for a few seconds trying to shut out all the other noise with his silence. Just a year ago I wouldn't have been so excited to go out like this because all the other brains pulsing with excitement and lust would have made me insane. Now that Bill and Eric had helped me control my ability and I had taken so much of Eric's blood, it seemed much easier to handle. I could shield really well when I needed to now.

Amelia and I sat down on the big sofa and Bill sat beside her and Eric beside me. It almost seemed like we were on a double date, which is funny considering Bill is my ex and I've slept with all three of them. We sat there chatting for a few minutes until our waitress showed up and took our drink order. Bill and Eric ordered a glass of Royalty and Amelia and I stuck to a gin & tonic with lime.

"I've been meaning to ask you Amelia, what do you do for a living? I hope that didn't come out the wrong way, I was just wondering because you seem to be around most of the day." What I was thinking was, I've been here almost a week and haven't seen you go to work once. I was curious as to how she had the means to offer to buy back my condo for such a large amount of money.

"Oh no it's fine, I actually help out one of my fellow witches with her store and I occasionally do some work for the local supes. I own the entire building that I live in, well except the condo that I sold to Hadley that you now own neighbor." She smiled at me. "I also own two commercial lots in town and have a stake in one of my father's corporations. My father is wealthy and helped me get started investing in properties, so now I mostly do odd jobs and can live comfortably off the rent from my other properties and royalties from the company."

So she was a trust fund baby. I'm not holding it against her though, heck I wish my parents would have had some financial stability before they died so maybe my Gran wouldn't have had such a hard time raising us.

"Oh well that's nice that he was able to help you with that. Actually Bill knows all about rental properties and commercial lots. He owns one back home in Bon Temps. In fact, my friend Tara owns a boutique in his shopping center."

"Now that is something I need to invest in; clothing store. Of course I would probably be a really bad owner because I would end up keeping half my merchandise for myself!"

Our drinks came and went and after a few rounds, the guys had left to try their hand at gambling.

"You know witch, I'm really glad we met" I told Amelia

"Me too telepath! I've been thinking about going back to Bon Temps with you guys, I mean I'm bored here and a change of scenery would be nice. Do you know of any good places to rent in your little part of town?"

I was surprised and excited that she wanted to visit Bon Temps for a while. If you don't like watching paint dry, it can get a little boring around there.

"Actually I have two extra rooms that are available. I spend about half my time at Eric's house in Shreveport, so my house is empty a lot. You would have the house to yourself at least a few nights a week. I don't know if you would want to stay there though, it's an old farmhouse, nothing fancy and new like your place." I said slightly embarrassed.

"Are you kidding me? I love farmhouses! You would actually want me to be your roommate? Do you have those old wooden floors that creak when you walk on them?"

"Yea, they're probably as old as the house" I said thinking she was gonna run for the hills.

"Oh my gosh those are my favorite! I bet you have a big porch too?" She sounded like an eager child

"Oh yea, wraps around the whole house. If you like that, you should know that I also have a tin roof and only recently decided to install air conditioners" I said sarcastically.

"That's awesome! I would love to be your roomie!" She shrieked

"Ok cool, so when are you thinking about coming?"

"How about tomorrow? I'll pack as soon as we get back!"

Wow, she really must be bored with New Orleans to be that excited to go back to my little Podunk town. Poor thing would be itching to leave in a week. Funny thing is; I read right from her brain that she really did want to go and was genuinely excited. I was excited too. I know I have a few friends, I'm not desperate, but I don't see much of Tara since her and her vamp broke up in a really bad way and I wasn't seeing Claudine as much lately since I had spent so much time around dead people. It would be nice to have a real friend to hang out with and talk to.

"Tomorrow is fine. I'll make up the guest room after I get up tomorrow and I'll see you in the evening I guess" I said

We left the club about an hour later. Bill and Eric were a few hundred dollars richer and Amelia and I were a little drunker. Eric playfully carried me up the stairs mumbling something about me punishing him, while Bill and Amelia were talking in the courtyard.

"See you tomorrow roomie!" I yelled down from top of the stairs.

After another hour or two of vampire sex games, Eric got a text from Bill saying he and Mr. C were waiting outside. We threw our luggage in the car and said goodbye to the French quarter…for now at least.


	13. Homecoming

Between our time at the club and the exhaustion caused by mine and Eric's sexcapades, I fell asleep in the limo after just a few minutes on the road. I was glad I had grabbed a blanket to take with me in the car, and sleep pulled me under with Eric gently running his hands through my hair. At first I felt odd for displaying such a loving gesture in front of Bill, but for whatever reason he didn't seem to mind like he previously had.

Eric woke me up as we turned onto Hummingbird Lane, and I could tell by his slower movements that it wouldn't be too long before dawn.

"Who the hell is at my house?" I said out loud when we got closer and I saw a car parked in the driveway. When the limo stopped, I was about to jump out and see what was going on but Eric pushed me back down in the seat and said "wait here."

He got out of the car and looked around, while I scanned the area with my other sense. I couldn't pick up anything, not even the holes that vampires make. I let Bill know that he could go on home because no one was here.

"I know it might have been a little awkward hanging out with me and Eric the last few days, but I'm glad you came and I'm very glad you helped save my life and Amelia's. I hope this can be the beginning of a new era for us Bill. You know how I feel about Eric and I have no plans on leaving him, but I do hope that we can always be friends. I know I can count on you and I hope you know you can count on me too."

"Sookie I will always love you, but I see that you are in love with Eric. If those feelings ever change, you know I would welcome a reunion between us. If that doesn't happen though, I will always be your friend and there's nothing you can't ask of me. Goodnight." And just like that he was gone across the cemetery. I stepped out and walked over to Eric who was holding a piece of paper.

"I think you should read this lover. It seems you made quite an impression on the Queen." He grinned

_Sookie,_

_If you are to be part of my staff, I insist you have reliable transportation. Think of it as payment for all you did for me in New Orleans. All has been paid on this vehicle, you will just need to put it under your own insurance. If it is not to your liking, let me know._

_Sincerely,_

_Queen Sophie Ann LeClerq_

I turned to Eric, "Does she treat all her employees this way?"

"No my dear, I think she is quite fond of you. I have to agree though you do need more reliable transportation than the yellow piece of metal you call a car. Since you have refused to let me buy you a new car, I guess this will solve both our problems." He smirked

…_If it is not to your liking_…that's crazy, who wouldn't like this car? It was the newest year model Lexus IS350 in a smoky charcoal color. It was incredible. I couldn't have imagined that my little trip would have changed my life so much. I was just excited to get out of town for a few days with my honey and I come back $10,425,000 richer, owner of a nice condo in the big easy, part owner of a vampire cosmetics company which will yield me around $300,000 a year, and apparently now the owner of a brand new car. The weight of my thoughts was almost too much and my knees went wobbly.

"Let's get inside lover; I want to tuck you in before I have to go to ground." Before I could protest, he picked me up and carried me inside.

I woke back up around noon and walked to my guest bedroom to arrange the items back in the closet where Eric was sleeping for the day. As much fun as I had being out of town, it felt good to be back home surrounded by my own things. I went to the kitchen and made coffee and toast and called my brother.

"Hey little sis, glad you're back." He answered cheerfully

"Yea it's nice to be back. Listen, I have a friend from New Orleans that's going to be coming to town today and staying with me for a while. I wanted to let you know so you won't be surprised if you see someone else in the house when I'm not home. Her name is Amelia and don't sleep with her."

"Geez Sook, is that all you think I do?" He tried to sound indignant

"Pretty much Jason"

"Well fine I won't sleep with your new friend. What does she look like anyways?" He just didn't give up

"I'll introduce you Sunday and tell you about my trip if you come over for dinner, how about that? Say about 6:00?"

"Sounds good to me. Hey can you make Gran's baked spaghetti, I really miss it" It touched me that he would want me to make something of Gran's so I happily agreed.

My next call was to Sam to find out when I needed to be at work. Apparently Arlene had called in for tonight, so I had about four hours before I needed to go in. That would give me just enough time to unpack and get Amelia's room set up. Speaking of witch, I texted her my address for her GPS and told her where she could find the spare key. I also let her know that her room was upstairs and depending on what time she got here, Eric would be rising for the evening in the other room downstairs_. Hopefully he won't walk through the house naked thinking I'm home I thought._

I went upstairs and changed the sheets on the bed, swept the floors and put a new scented candle in the room. That was about as good as it was going to get, so I went and cleaned the spare bathroom and put fresh towels out as well as new soap and shampoo. It was actually fun setting up for another girl to be here to hang out with. I could never manage college, so a sorority house was out of the question and since Gran died, I had been alone in the house. Eric stayed over maybe once a week, but he couldn't be up with me during the day and most nights we stayed at his house so he could work. I wondered what it would be like to have a roommate.

Well a good roommate would probably make sure there was food in the house, so I decided to make a trip to the Piggly Wiggly before work. I may have also just wanted an excuse to drive my new car. I took the key, or what Eric told me was a key since it didn't look like one I had ever seen, and got in. Now where did it go? The car had soft, black leather and more buttons and screens than I thought I could manage, but after a few minutes of testing all of them I think I had it figured out. I couldn't believe how smooth and quiet it was, and there was even satellite radio with probably 1000 stations! I even tested out the air conditioner although I didn't need it yet, but it sure would be nice this summer.

When I got home I had just enough time to put the groceries away and put on my uniform and walk out the door. I closed the spare bedroom door where Eric was staying and put a note on the inside of the room telling him to please not walk around naked because I was at work and Amelia would be here. I said I would call him when I got off but that I was staying at my house tonight to get Amelia settled in.

I might have felt like my life had changed tremendously in the last four days, but everyone at Merlotte's was the same as they always were. Jane Bodehouse was already drunk at 4 in the afternoon, Holly was sitting down painting her nails instead of working; Bud, Andy, Kevin, and Kenya were eating a burger Lafayette on their break, and Sam was wiping down the bar. I walked to the back to put my purse away and Sam followed me.

"Hey cher, it's good to have you back. If I had to listen to Arlene talk about her new boyfriend's bedroom skills anymore, I was going to hang myself in the store room!" Poor Sam always putting up with us women and our period talk and what not.

"I'm glad to be back too Sam. We had fun, but it's nice to be back home and relax. Would you want to come over for dinner on Sunday? Me, Jason, and my new roommate will be there."

"When did you get a roommate and who is it?" He asked

"Well today and her name is Amelia. I met her in New Orleans, she was Hadley's neighbor and now she's going to be coming to Bon Temps for a while, so she's staying with me. Oh yea and she's a witch" I said smiling.

"Have you forgotten what happened a few months ago when there were witches here?"

"Don't worry; she's definitely a good witch! She's cute too" I winked at him. "Although Pam is already eyeballing her."

"In that case, I would love to come to dinner." He said

The rest of the night went on pretty boring and before I knew it, it was time to clock out. I walked out to my car (the old one, I didn't want people asking questions just yet) and a man stepped out from the woods. I almost screamed until I saw Claudine step out beside him. The man looked to be maybe 60, but he looked wonderful. He had long, white hair and his skin had the same ethereal glow that Claudine and Claude had, so I was assuming he was fae.

Claudine wrapped her arms around me and I felt the happiness that always comes over me when I'm near her.

"Hello cousin, long time no see!" She said

"I was just thinking about you yesterday Claudine. I've missed you"

"I have missed you as well. I would like for you to meet someone Sookie." She looked over at the man and smiled "This is my grandfather Niall Brigant."

I put my hand out but of course like all fae, he grabbed me and hugged me. Normally I wouldn't take too kindly to strangers giving me a full frontal hug, but there was something about him that felt so calming and kind.

"Blood of my blood, I have waited so long to meet you" He said to me. "I couldn't wait any longer and Claudine said we could find you here, I hope you don't mind."

"No of course not, I'm just a little confused. You said blood of my blood, are we related because Claudine is my faery Godmother?"

"No dear, Claudine is my granddaughter and you are my great granddaughter. I sent her here last year to begin watching over you. You are quite a handful child. You are most definitely my kin" He seemed pleased as punch that I was always in the middle of supernatural trouble.

"I'm sorry sir, but my great grandfather was Jonah Stackhouse and he's been dead for a long time."

"No child, I'm afraid you aren't fully aware of your true family lineage. When there is more time to visit and discuss these things with you, I will be glad to answer any of your questions. Unfortunately I must go for now, but we will see each other again soon." He leaned over and kissed my forehead and disappeared back into the woods.

I looked at Claudine and said "What the hell just happened here?"

"I wish he had more time to stick around tonight and explain everything, but there are many things in our world that he must attend to. Just know that he is sincere and loves you. He will not hurt you and believe him when he says he will come to you again soon. I have to go as well, but I love you cousin and I'll try to see you in a few days." She also kissed my forehead. Did I mention faeries are touchy feely?

I wouldn't have been surprised at that point if Santa had walked out of the woods. "Want to come to dinner Sunday? There will be a telepath, a werepanther, shifter, and a witch. Might as well add a faery too" I said amusing myself.

"Oh that sounds fabulous! I'll be there." Poof! She vanished back to her land.

_And I thought New Orleans was exciting_. I went home and saw Amelia sitting on the front porch.

"Hey roomie!" She called and ran up to greet me. "Your boyfriend went off to work, so I've just been hanging out enjoying the fresh air, you can really see all the stars out here in the country. You look kinda rattled, are you ok?"

"Yea I'm fine, it's just been a long night getting back to the grind" I lied. I gave her a tour of the house and saw that she found her bedroom just fine and had already set her things up. Turns out she had a little bit of OCD about cleaning and organizing like I did. Good to know she wouldn't be a slob. After I walked her around the house and property, I excused myself to go inside and call Eric.

"Good evening dear one, how was your night?" Eric asked

"It was kinda slow at work, but then Claudine was waiting for me after work with some older guy and when I talked to them, he said he was my great grandfather." It all just came out in a jumble of words.

"Who is this man?"

"He said Claudine is his granddaughter and he's the one who sent her to be my Godmother. His name is Niall Brigant."

The phone was silent for a few seconds and finally Eric said "Sookie, Niall Brigant is the last living Prince of the Fae. He is very powerful and very old. If what he says is true, you my dear are in the last living royal bloodline of the Fae."

Well that was a showstopper.

_So this concludes "Dead In The French Quarter" I hope you guys enjoyed this little trip and I promise you I will be working very hard on the next one. In the next book, we will dive further into Sookie's supernatural side and have some new adventures for the telepath and Viking we love. Hopefully you all will join me for the next one and I can't wait to hear your reviews for my starter fanfiction!_


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